TheEternalGalilean 10793472

THE
E T E R NA L G A L I L E A N
by
F ulton J S heen Ph D LL D .
, . .
, . .
,
A gr ! g! en Ph i losoph i e ,
Univ er s i ty of Lo uva i n Bel giu m ; ,
C ath ol i c U niv ersity of A me ri c a .
F i fteen a ddr ess es del iver ed in the Ca tholi c H ou r sp onsor ed ,
b y th e N a ti ona l C ou nci l o f C a thol ic M en wi th the ,
coo p era tion o f the Na tiona l B r oa dca sting Com

p any and its A ssoci ated S ta tions .
(O n S und a ys from De c e mber 2 4, 19 3 3 to A p ri l 1,
l . The Infi nity of Li ttleness

II S h e p herd s a nd Wi s e M en
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III The A rti san of N a z a r eth

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IV The War With Te m ptati on

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V . The Wa y th e T ru th and the Li fe , ,
VI The Li ght of th e World

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V II T he Ki n g of Hea rts
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V III G od s B rid ge B ui lder

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IX D i vin e Inti m a ci e s
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X . The De pths of S i m p li ci ty
X I G a m ble rs on C al vary
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X II Th e Cr oss es of H at e and Lov e

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X III The Cross and the Cruc i fi x

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X IV H op e fo r S inn er s
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X V The Eternal G a l i lean

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fN
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B . .
“
Th e Q een o f S e u ven S word s del i vered ”
on G ood
F ri d a y M a r c publ ish ed s ep arat ely
,
, h 30 , 19 3 4, is .
C O P Y RI GHT E D 19 3 4
v
"
N ati ona l Co un c il of Ca th ol i c M en
S po ns or Ca thol i c Hour
of the
1 3 1 2 M assa ch u s etts A v enu e
W ashington D C , . .
Imp ri m atur :
X JO H N
><
F RAN C I S N O LL D D
, . .,
B i sh op of F ort Wayne
Ded i c ated to
M a ry I m m a cu l ate M othe r of G od
A dvoc ate of inner s at the Triun e Thr one

S
D a ugh te r of the F athe r M othe r of th S on S p ou e

e ,
s of
TH E IN FIN ITY OF L ITTLE N E SS
A dd r ess de l i ve r ed on De c e m ber 2 4, 1 93 3 .
This i s Chri stm a s eve ! I n tens of thousand s of

homes tonight there is gaiety and gladness ; ga rdens
com e to the W indows in the for m of wr eaths and ,
forests into p arlor s in the form of tree s ; the chil

dren s long advent is ended a s they j ump with j oy
’
about their toy s : the ver y atmos p here is ch ar g ed

with cheer ; love sp arkles gift s abound greetings , ,
ex chan ge hearts soften E veryw here there I S a new

, .
spirit a new life a new hope a new j oy !

, , ,
But W hat is it about Why are people m ak

all ?
ing mer ry ? Why call this a se ason of j oy ? There

must be some reason for it I can underst and why .
W e shoot off firecr a ckers on the Fourth of July b e ,
c ause that is the day we cel ebr ate th e sh ot of

liberty that w as he ard round the world ; I can ’
understand why we a re silent for a few mo m ents on

A rmistice Day for th at is the d ay we pay tribute to
,
the heroes of our battlefields I can understand a .
man making a great fe ast bec a use he ha s come into

a fortune But I cannot im agine him doing so if
.
his fortune is only a j oke .
Now if this i s not the d ay on which our S a viour

was born then why are we making merry ? I f this
,
is not the day of Christ the King of H ea rts then ,
ou r fun is only a fu ss I f you saw a man on the

.
street laughing hilariously tears of j oy running ,
down h is cheeks and all the while no re a son for his

,
laughter you would think the man w a s out of his

,
.
head He would be rej oicing without a reason for

.
rej oicing which is a sign of in sanity A nd so I say

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,
if this is not the day on which God left the heaven s

to remake the heart s of m en then there is n o more ,
TH E E T E RNAL ‘
GA LLI LE A N I
rea son for being gla d on Christmas eve than there

i s for being gl a d on the first rainy Monday after the
first sunny Sunday of the vernal equinox If .
Christmas does n ot me a n Christ then why are we ,
merry on this day any more th an on the fifth of

July ? I f Christmas does not mean God amongst
men then we ar e absurdly h aving the feast without
,
the festival decorating the town for a victor y which

,
ne ver took place and bringing gift s to a marriage

,
festival which is really only a divorce .
I know why I am glad t oday ; I know why mil

lions of others are glad I t is because we are cele
.
brating a ma rri age—a marri age so solemn and per

~
manent as to be the only one the world will ne ver

ce a se celebra ting : the Divine N uptials of God and
man in the I ncarnation of O ur Blessed L ord and
Saviour Jesus Christ .
That great mass of people in our land w ho are

v
being merry because it is a fa shion rather th an be

cause it is a marri age have confused Yuletide with
,
Christmas and log burning with an I ncarnation I n

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varying degrees we all mis s the full import of the

fe a st There is only one way to discover the mean
ing of Christmas—and that is by being little which
.
is a nother word for being humble There is only .
one way in which we dis c over anything big and ,
that is by being little There is only one spiri t by

.
which we can di scover the imm ense God and that is ,
the spirit of little children Verify this law ln ex

'
perience and see how much it is the law of Chris t

mas .
I n the physical order h a ve you ever noticed that

to a child everything seems big : his father is bigger
th an any other man in the world and his uncle w h o ,
i s standing near th e window i s taller than the grea t

TH E E T ERNAL GALILEAN 7
oaks d own in the valley E very child loves the story

.
of J a ck and the bean stalk b ecause for him e v ery

,
bean stalk towers u p to the very skie s Now as a .

,
matter of fa ct bean stalks do not scrape the sta rs ;

,
but to a chi l d they do because the child is so small

—
,
that in rel a tion to himself everything is big e v en

the bean stalk I t is only when the child grows big
.
that be an stalks become sm all I t i s only by being

.
little th at we ever disc over anything big .
To t ake another example : E very child loves to

play hor se with a broomstick H e straddles it and
.
by some peculiar magic its one wooden leg changes

into four beating hoofs and its straws int o a mane
,
whi stling through every wind N ow broomsticks

.
are not horses and their straw is not a mane ; but

,
to a child they are becau se he is so sm all that in

“
comparison to him self everything else seems big .
E ven his gi an ts th at tr a mpl e down f orests li ke

grass ar e cre ations of humility I t is only when he .
grows to be a big big man that the giants die and

,
his f airy tales become nonsense I t is only by being .
little th at we ever discover anything big .
To take a final example : I n many a home to

night a child is playing with little tin soldiers no
more than three inches high He lines them up
.
under the commands of lieuten a nts maj ors and , ,
generals and sends them out to fight the foe T o .
him these soldiers are not tin they are flesh and ,
blo od ; they are not three inches high but six feet
high ; they ar e not carry i ng toy g uns they are firing ,
machine guns ; they ar e not standing still they are ,

“ ”
going over the top He can smell the smoke of
.
b attle hear the bursting shel ls feel the brea king

, ,
shrapnel and see men falling in death beside him

\
, .
Why the very r ed of the carpet is the blood of the

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8 TH E E T ERNAL GALILEAN
battlefield a s th e long range guns turn the poppy
~
fields into H aceldam as of blood ! I t s a real war and ’

,
there will be no pe a ce until it s over ! When he gets ’
bigger he will stop pl aying and the soldiers will ,
only be br oken tin toys as they shrink from six ,
feet to three inche s and are gathered into a waste

basket and c arted away with the boyhood j oys which
never come back a gain .
“ ”
W hat does it mean to be a child To be a child ?
,
“
someone has said is to be something far different
,
from th e man of today I t is to have a spirit yet .
streaming from th e waters of baptism ; 1t is to b e

‘
v
lieve in lo e to believe in loveliness to believe in
, ,
belief ; it is to be so little that the elves can reach to

whi sper in your ear s ; it i s to turn pu mpkl ns into
c oaches and mi c e int o horses l ownes s into lofti
, ,
ne ss and n othingness into everythin g for e a ch child ,
ha s its fairy Godm o ther in its ow n soul ; it i s to live

in a nut shell and count yourself the king of infinite
space The univer se is his box of toys He dabbles
. .
his fingers in the day f a ll He is gold dusty by

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tumbling amidst the star s He m akes brief mis .
chief with the moon The meteors muzzle their.
nose s in his hands He teases the growling and .
kennelled thunder and l a ugh s at the shaking of its

,
fiery ch a in He d ances in and out of the gate of

.
heaven . His floor is littered with broken fancies .
He runs wild over the fields of ether He cha ses the .
rolling world He gets between the feet of the

.
horses of the sun He st ands in the la p of M other

.
Na ture and twines her loo sened tre sses after a hun
,
dred wilful fashions to see in which w ay she will

”
look mo st beautiful Th at i s wh at it mean s to be
.
a child That too is why it is only by being little

.
, ,
th at we ever discover a nything big .

TH E E T ERNAL GALILE AN 9
Now there is close rel ation between physical

a
littlene ss which is childhood and mental littl eness

, , ,
which is humility We c annot alw ays be children

. ,
bu t we can always h ave the visi on of children which ,
is a nother w ay of saying we can b e hu mble A nd .
so the law rem a ins ever the s a me : if a ma n i s ever
to discover anything big he must al ways be making

,
himself little ; if he magnifies his ego to the infinite ,
he will discover nothing for there is nothing bigger

,
than the infinite ; but if h e redu c es h is ego to z ero ,
—
t en he will discover everything big for there is
h
nothing s maller th a n him self H ow then shall man
.
discover God at Christm a s time How shall he find

?
the re ason for the j oy behind the j oy J u st as it is

?
only by being little tha t he discovers an ything big ,
it is only by bei ng humble th at h e will find an I n

finite God in the form of a little child
To gr a sp thi s truth im aglne two men enteri n g
—
the cave where the B abe is born one a proud man ,
the other a humble m an First let the proud man

.
, ,
intoxicated with pride a nd full of a smattering of

,
knowledge gleaned from some handy Wellsian h is

tory of the world enter the cave of Bethlehem D o
,
you think he would ever di scover the immense God ?

Why he is so big that he thinks there is nothing big
,
ger th an himself and so wise th at there is nothing

,
wiser than himself and so self su ffi cient that noth

,
-
ing could ever add to his suffi ciency He i s so big .
mentally th at to him everything el se is little To

, .
h im what is really bigger than the uni verse is only

a b abe wr apped in swaddling clothes an d wh at is
'
really a King is no bigger than the head of an ox ,
and what is really eternal W isdom is onl y a spee ch

less organi sm He smiles at the credu l i ty of the
.
.
shepherds w h o believe in angels and at the ignor ,

0 TH E E T E RNAL G ALILEAN
a nce of the Wise Men wh o believe in the Pr o id en v
tial guiding of a star He lifts his eyebrows at the
.
Virgin Mother vaguely remembering an E gyptian

,
legend about Krishn a He condescends a gl a nce at

.
Joseph the man of r ags to whom the inn keeper

, ,
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rightly denied entrance He thinks of all that

.
science has done to master the earth and then h ow ,
fooli sh it is to think of that B abe as a Creator ; he

dwells on R elativity and then on the absurdity of
,
calling a glorified a moeba the Lord of Hea en and

earth ; he recalls how much B irth Control h as done
v
to keep the poor from bringing children into the
world and then how foolish w as the Mother of that
,
Child w h o could offer H im only a stab l e and a few

st raws from a threshing floor He mi sses the infi n .
ite b e cause he is proud ; he ml sses discovering God

be c ause he is too big For it is only by bein g little
—
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that we ever discover anything big ev en God .
Now let a humble man enter the cave I mean

'
a man who believes he doe s not know everyth i ng a ,
man who is teachable a man w ho is simple He looks

, .
at exa ctl y the same spe ctacle the pr oud man looked
at and yet he see s something di fferent He looks
, .
a t the roof of the stable and see s the gre at canopy
of st a rs ; he look s at a B a be and sees the One Who m

,
not ev en t he heavens or earth co uld contain ; he

look s at a manger a nd sees that God bec a me ma n
,
to be ou r food T o him baby eyes see through

.
he arts a nd read secrets unto j udgment To h im .
sw a ddling bands which now bind life are thos e ,
which l ater on will be broken for life c annot be ,
holden by de ath To him ruddy lips ar e th ose whose

.
kiss gives immortality and whose articul ation car

ries the me ss a ge of peace and pardon To him , tiny
. .
hands are those on which is poised all the nations of

TH E E T ERNAL G ALILEAN 11
the earth as the le a st gr am l n the balance The .
da te is D ecember twenty-fifth bu t to this humble ,
man it is Christm a s ; the m anger is a throne ; the

,
straw i s royal plumage ; the stable is a ca stle ; and

the B abe is God H e finds Wisdom because he is
’
f oolish Power b ec ause he is weakne ss and the

, ,
I nfinite I mmense an d E ternal God bec ause he is

, , ,
little—for it is only by being little th at we ever

.
discover anything big .
Only the humble man from another point of ,
Vl eW realizes he sta nds in need of help fro m above

, .
Hence only the humble man understand s the m ean

ing of the I nca rn ation I t will be recalled that the
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“ ”
word incarnation derived from the L atin means
, ,
“ ”
in the fle sh Sometimes when we wi sh to empha
.
size a virtue in a man e g kindness we say in an

, . .
, ,
exagger ated m anner that he is kindness incarnate

, .
By that we mean that the I deal of Kindness h a s tak

en on in him a human form N ow when we speak .
of the I ncarn ati on we really mean that the L ife

'
the Truth and the L ove of the Perfect God to ok on a

,
visible human likeness in the Person of O ur L ord

and S a viour Jesus Christ .
The faith of the humble m an tells him : this

Child is the I nc arnate Word of God ; true God and
true man ; He is the Cre ator of the human race be
come man ; he needs milk to nourish Him but it i s ,
by His hand that the birds of the he avens are fed ;

He is born of a Mother but He 1s the O ne Who
—
,
pre existed His own Mother and therefore m a de her

beautiful and sinle ss as we would have done for ou r
,
own mother if we but had the power ; He lies up on

straw on earth and yet sustains the universe and
reign s in Heaven ; He is born in time and yet He
exis ted before all time ; maker of the stars under th e
t rs ; ruler of the e arth an outc a st of e a rth ; filling
s a
the worl d l ying in a manger A nd yet the proud

, .
m an sees only a B abe The humble man illumined

.
,
by faith s ees tw o lives in thi s B abe in the unity of

,
the Person of God B etween these tw o lives of

.
Christ—the Divine which He ever possesses by His

eternal birth in the bosom of the Father and the
.
human which He beg a n to po sse ss by His I ncarn a tion
in the bosom of a Virg i n—there is neither mingling

nor c onfusion The divine in H im does not absorb
.
the hum a n ; the hum an does not le ssen the divine .
The union is such that there is but a single Pers on ,
the Divine Person the Per son of the Word of God .
There is no human analogy for it—not even the u n

,
ion of our body and our soul in the unity of our per
son tells u s the depths of the mystery of a God Wh o
be c ame a man in order that man might be c ome once

,
m ore the image and likene ss of God .
Only the humble simple soul s w h o ar e little

, ,
enough to see the bigne ss of God in the littleness of

a Babe therefor e are the ones w ho will ever
, ,
understand the re a son of His Visit ation He c ame .
to thi s poo r e a rth of ours to c a rry on an excha nge ;

“
to say to us as only a good God could say : You
,
give Me y our humanity and I will give you My di

v inity ; you give Me your time and I will give you
My eternity ; you give Me your weary b ody and I
will give you redemption ; you gi e Me your broken v
heart and I will give you love ; you give Me your
”
nothingne ss and I will give you My A ll .
Christmas then if it me a n s anything means the

, , ,
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ex altation and glorification of the spirit of the child ,
which is j ust a nother word for hu m ility The wor l d .

,
which i s so bent on power never seem s thoroughly

,
to gra sp the paradox that j u st as only little c hil dren

TH E E T E RNAL GALILEAN 13
di scover the bigne ss of the universe so only humble ,
hearts ever find the gre atness of God The world .
misses the lesson beca use it confu ses littleness with

wea kness child likeness with childishness and h u
,
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,
mility with an inferiority complex I t thinks of .
power only in terms of phy sic al force and of w is ,
dom only in terms of the vain knowledge of the

spirit of the day I t f orgets th at gre at mor al
.
strength may be hidden in physic al weakne ss as ,
Omnipotence w as wrapped in swaddling bands ;

a nd th a t grea t Wisdom m a y be found in simple
faith a s the E tern a l Mind was found in the form

of a b ab e There is strength— strengt h before
.
which the angels trembled strength before which

,
the stars prostrated and strength before which the

,
very throne of Herod shook in fea r I t w a s the .
strength of th at D ivine and A q l L ov e whi ch

shrank from nothing .
But His law must be our law We must begin .
ou r eternal work as He w a s ple a sed to beg i n His

,
namely by beginning at the lowest and the hum

blest as the starting point for the highest and the
mightiest A s He Who is God descended even to
.
the l owliness of childho od as the first step to His

,
everl asting triumph so must we descend from ou r

,
ignor ant pride to the level of what we ar e in his

eyes.
unless you become as little
” “
children i s His characteristic word you shall not
,
,
”
enter into the kingdom of he a ven (M a tt 18 . .
,
T o become as little children means nothing more

than humility or truthfulness in j udgment about ou r
selves a recognition of the dispr oportion between
,
our poor life and the eternal lif e before. u s an ac ,
knowledgment of ou r weakness ou r fr a ilty our sin

, , ,
the poorness of all we are doing now and yet the ,

TH E E T ERNAL GALILEAN
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power and wisdom which is to be ours provided w e

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a r e humble enough to kneel before a B abe in a

'
manger of straw and confess Him to be O ur L ord ,
Our L ife and Our All

, .
’
A nd so Christmas is the children s day in which ,
a ge like a crab turns b a ckwards in which the w rin

, , ,
kles are smoothed by the touch of a recreating hand ,
in whi c h the pro u d become children and the big ,
become little and all find their God Hence I speak

, .
to you not in words of learned wisdom but in the

words of a child On this Christ mas ev e I go—we
,
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a ll go— stooping int o the c ave ; we put off ou r world
ly wisdom ou r p ride ou r seeming superiority and

, , ,
w e beco me as little ones before the in c al c u l able mys

'
tery of the hu m iliation of the Son of God A s such .
we creep to the knee of the loveliest woman in all

‘
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the world the woma n w ho alone of all women wear s

,
the red ro se of motherhood and the white rose of

virginity the mother who in begetting O ur L ord
, ,
bec ame the Mother of Men ; and we ask her to teach

us h ow to serve God h ow to love God h ow to pray
, ,
to God A nd in the l angu a ge of Mary Dixon Thayer

.
we say to her :
Lovel y L ady d re ssed in b l ue
Te a ch m e h ow to p r a y ;
G od w a s j u st y ou r l i ttle B oy
Tell m e wh at to say !
D i d you l ift H im up som etim e s
Gentl y on y ou r knee ?
D i d you sing to H im th e w ay
M other d oe s to m e ?
D i d you h old H is h an d at ni ght ?
D i d you e ve r try
Tellin g H im stori e s of th e world ?
O —A nd d i d He c ry ?
D o you r e all y th ink He car e s
If I tell H im th ing s
L i ttle th ing s th at h app en ? A nd
D o th e a ng el s win gs m ake a n oi se ?
’
Ca n He he a r m e i f I sp e a k low
D oe s He u nde r stand me n ow ?
Tell m e for you know !
,
Lovely La d y dr e sse d in b l u e ,
Te a ch m e h ow to p ray !
!
G od w a s j u st y ou r l ittle B oy ,
A nd you know the w ay .
A nd then when we have asked Mary how to

,
pray we go to Je sus on this Chri stm a s evening and

, ,
if we have not lost anything of th at littleness by

which we discover the secrets of the I nfinite we sh all ,
ask Him one of the most import a nt questions in all
the world We shall not ask Him h ow the atoms

.
behave nor if space is curved nor if light is a w a ve

, , ,
but we shall a sk Him h ow it feels for the God of

Heaven to live a s a Child on this poor earth of ours .
L ittle Je sus wast T hou shy

,
Onc e and j u st so sm all as I ?

,
A nd wh a t d i d it feel l i ke to b e
O u t of He av en and j u st l i ke m e ?
,
D i d st T h ou som eti m e s th ink of ther e ,
A nd a sk wher e a ll th e a n g el s we r e ?
I sh ou ld th i nk th at I would cr y
F or m y h ou s e all m a de of sky ;
I w ould l ook ab out th e a ir ,
A nd wonde r whe r e m y ang el s we r e ;

A nd at wak in g tw ou ld d i str e ss m e
’
N ot an a ng el the r e to dr e ss m e .
H ad st Th ou e ve r any toys ,
Li ke u s l ittle gi rl s and b oys ?

.
A nd d i d st T h ou p l a y in He av en wi th all
The ang el s th at wer e n ot too ta ll ,
Wi ht sta r s f or m a rble s D i d th e things

?
Pl a y ca n you see m e th r ough the ir wing s ?

‘
A nd d i d Th y M othe r let Thee sp oil

Th y r obe s with p l aying on ou r soil ?
,
How n i c e to h av e the m a lways new

I n He av en be c au s e twa s q u i t e c le an b l u e
,
’
.
D i d st T hou kneel at night and p ray

A nd d i d st Th ou j oin Th y h and s th i s w ay ?
,
A n d d i d the y tir e som e ti m e s be i ng young

,
A nd m ake the p ray e r seem v e r y l on g ?

, ,
A nd d ost Th ou l i ke it be st th at we
Sh ould j oin ou r h and s to p r ay to Thee ?
L ov ely Lady D r ess ed in Blue b y Mary D ix on Th a yer

, .
A ndd i d Th y M other at th e nigh t /
K i s s T hee a nd f old th e c l oth e s in ri gh t ?

I u sed to th ink bef or e I knew
,
, ,
The p ra y e r n ot sa i d unle ss we do .
A n d d i d st Th ou f eel q u i te g ood in bed ,
K i ssed an d swee t and Th y p r a y e r s sa i d

,
?
Th ou c anst n ot h a ve f or gotten all

Th at it f eel s l ike to b e sm all ;
A nd Th ou kn ow st I c ann ot p r a y
’
T o Thee in m y fathe r s w ay
’
When Th ou wa st l ittle say , ,
C ouldst Th ou ta lk Thy F her a t s w a y

? ’
S o a l ittle ch i ld c om e d own
,
A nd he a r a ch i ld s t on gu e l i ke Th y ow n ;
,
’
Take m e b y the h an d a nd walk ,
A n d l i st en to m y b a b y ta lk .
T o Th y F a the r sh ow m y p r a y e r
(He wi ll l ook Th ou art so f air )
,
A n d sa y : 0 F a th er I Th y S on
‘
‘
, , ,
B rin g th e p r a yer of a l i ttl e one .

’
A nd He wi ll sm ile th at ch ildre n s tongu e

,
’
Has not c hang ed sinc e Th ou wa st young .
I f we ar e littlee n ou gh to d o these things about

“
a crib where then there clashed and t hundered u n
”
thinkable wings around an incredible star then we ,
sh all di scover the I nfinite ; if we are humble enough

to go to one Who has no ho me then we shall find ou r ,
home ; if we ar e simple enough to become children

by being reborn in ou r old age then we sh a ll dis ,
cover the L ife that abide th when time sh all be no

more A nd so on thi s Christm a s eve ICh r ist comes
.
, .
T o some He comes when their hearts a r e empty of

the world ; to others He comes when their hungr y
stomachs testify to the hunger of their spirits ; to
others He comes when j oy possesse s them as really
a s an embr a ce ; to others He comes when the world
on w hich they leaned as a staff ha s pierced their

hand s ; to others He comes only when tears strea m
their cheeks that He might wipe them away B ut
, .
E x O re I nf antiu m , by F ranc is T h ompson .

18 TH E E T ERNAL GALILE A/N
SH E P H E R DS AND WIS E ME N
A ddr es s del ive r ed on D c embe r 3 1 1 93 3
e , .
A ny mind which thinks about religion at al l

a sks itsel f such qu estions as thes e : Why d o so few
soul s ever find Christ Wh y ar e so m a ny seeking

? .
Him and so few finding Him Why do the p a ssing

,
?
fa d s of the d ay win so many adherents a n d the

'
Di vine Saviour so few ? M any ther e ar e w h o know

Christ as a genial pre a cher of goo d fel l owship or ,
a s a social reformer of humanit a r ian l eanings but ,
few there ar e w h o ever find Him as God among

men th e L ight and the L ife of the worl d
, .
Why shoul d s uch an attitude exist toward One

'
Who came to remake a wor ld by remaking a human

.
’
heart ? The reason is that the mind s w h o seek

Him are either not simpl e enough or they are not
l earned eno ugh From the beginning O ur B l es sed
.
L or d has been found onl y by two cl asses : those

w h o know and thos e w h o do not know—but never
,
by thos e w h o think they know Divinity is so pro .
found that it can be gr a sped onl y by the extremes

of si m pl icity and wisd om There is something in
.
common between the wise and the simp l e and that ,
is humil ity Th e wise m an is humbl e bec a u se he

.
knows that reg ard l ess o f how deep he digs Divinity ,
is always d eep er ; the sim pl e man is humbl e b e ,
cause he knows Divinity is so deep there is no use

of h im digging B ut th a t sel f wise inquirer with
.
-
,
a sophomori c mind stu ffe d with the prid e of his
l ittl e l earning is so c onvinced of his knowl edge

,
that he wil l not dig because h e thinks nothing can

be deep er than himsel f .
A s i t was in the beginnin g, so i t is now and

TH E ET ERNAL GALILEAN 19
'
ever sh a l l be : O u r L ord is discovered onl y by the

simp l e and the le arned but never by the man with ,
one b ook never by the mind that thinks that it

,
’
knows Go back in your mind s eye to that night
.
when Divine L ight in ord er to il l umine the dark

,
ne ss of men tabern a cl ed Himsel f in the worl d He “

,
had m a d e and you wil l see that onl y the simp l e

,
a nd the l e a rned found Him ; namely the Shep ,
herd s and the Wi se M en The a ngel s and a star .
c a ught up the reflection of that L ight as a torch ,
l ighted by a torch and p as sed it on to the watchers

,
of sheep and the searchers of skies A nd 10 ! as the .
sheph er ds watched their flocks about the hil l s of

B ethl ehem they were shaken by the l ight of the
,
angels saymg to them : Fear not for behold I

“
, ,
bring yo u goo d tidings of gre at j oy that shal l be ,
to al l p eo pl e ; for this d a y is born to yo u a Saviour ,
who is Christ the L ord in the city of D avid ”

'
And
, .
10 ! as w ise m en from b eyond the l and of M edia

and Persia searched the heavens the bril l ian c e of ,
a star l ike a t a bernacl e l a mp in the sanctuary of

,
’
God s cre ation beckoned them on to the stabl e
,
where the star seemed to l ose its l ight in the u n

earthl y bril l iance of the L ight of the Worl d L ike .
moths to the fl a me came the shepherd s and wis e

men to a throne that w as only a stabl e and a God
that was onl y a B ab e A nd as Go d in the for m of .
the shepherds and th e wis e m en—the simp l e and

the learned .
The shepherds wer e the si mp l e soul s wh o knew

nothing of the p ol itics of the worl d nothing of its ,
art nothing of its l iterature

, Not one of them .
co ul d recite a singl e l ine of Virgil though there ,
was hard l y an ed uc ated p erson in the R om a n E m

pire who w as ignor ant of his p oetry I nto their .
fi el ds and simp l e l ives there never c a me a rumor

,
’
of the scand al s of Hero d s vol uptuo us court nor ,
even a word abo ut the l earned Gamal iel who sat ,
in the temp l e counting out the seventy weeks of

ye ars
. The gre a t bro a d worl d of p ub l ic opinion
ignored them as of no acc o unt in the progres s of
men and nations A nd yet thes e simp l e sheph erds
.
,
whose early kings were shepherds did know two ,
very important things : the Go d above their head s ,
and the sh eep about their feet B ut th at w a s .
enough for simp l e so ul s to know and on th at night

,
when the heavens were so bright that they bur st

to reveal their radi a nt minstrel sies an a ngel an ,
nou nced that He for Whom they ye a rned with

br e athl ess exp ect ancy w a s now born among com
mon p eop l e in a common st abl e in th e common ,
l ittl e town o f B ethl ehem A nd g a thering one of

.
the things they knew a l ittl e l a mb they brought

, ,
it and l a id it at the feet of th e on l y other Thing

—
they knew the Go d o f the He avens Wh o c a me to
?
e a rth as the L amb sl ain from the beginning of the

worl d. A nd so at l ast the shepherd s h a d found
their Shepherd .
Th e oth er cl ass who found Him were wis e men

—not kings but teachers of kings not mere d ilet ,
t a ntes in knowl edge but se archers of the he avens

,
a nd discoverers of the star s I n both science and

.
rel igion they hel d first rank in th em nations , the

kings consul ting them before they went to war and ,
the p easants before they til l ed their l and One .
night a new st ar ap peared in the heavens Thou .
sand s besid es them saw its bril li a nt l ight but these ,

thous a nds were not wise with the wisdom of the

Wi se M en ; they wer e wis e onl y in their conceit . .
They saw onl y a st ar but these first scientists of

,
the Christi a n a ge saw a star and envi saged a God .
T o the pro ud man the star is onl y a star ; to the .
wi se men the star is a handiwork of Go d T o them .
it is a tel lt a l e a nd a revel at ion of something be

yond A nd so they fol l owed the l ight of the star
.
,
but in stead of l e a ding them over the mount a ins

beyond th e su n a nd the shining ch a ndel iers of the
Pl eiades to the h id b a ttl ements o f he a ven it r a ther ,
l ed them al ong the s a ndy cour s es of e arth to the

end of the tr ail of the gol den st a r wher e the wi se ,
m en bent on the voy a ge of d i scovery m a d e the

great Discovery of God These wise l earned and
.
, ,
mighty men kneel ing in p ontifi ca l robes up on a

,
bedding of straw before a B a be Wh o co ul d neith er

,
ask nor answer qu e stions offered their gifts and

,
themselves a s p l edges of the obedience o f the

worl d Their gifts were three : gol d frankincense
.
a nd myrrh—gol d
, ,
.
bec a u se He wo ul d rul e a s a
,
u nder the n a me of l iberty inj ustice in the

, a nd
m
na e of progre ss ; but to none of these so ul s did
TH E E T ERNAL G ALILEAN
there come the vision of an angel or the l ight of a

star A nd why ? Becau se treasures of wisdom and
.
knowl edge of heal ing grace and salvation are r e

, ,
served onl y for th e extremes in the intel l e c tual ,
ord er as wel l as in th e moral When God w as a .
B abe onl y the intel l e c tu a l extremes of simp l icity

and wi sd om found th eir way to the c rib ; when God
was a M an onl y the moral extremes of sinful ness
and innocence found their w ay to His feet .
The innocent l ike J ohn c a me to Him be c ause

, ,
they d id not need to b e cl eansed ; the sinners l ike ,
M agd a lene cam e to Him because they felt the need

r
of being cl eansed B ut that midd le group of

.
Ph arisees who reprim a nded His ap ostl es bec a use

,
th ey d id not wash th eir h and s before eating hyp o '
c rites w h o were l ike whitened s ep ul c hr es o utsid e ,

’
cl ean but insid e ful l of d ead men s bones ; the !
sel f righteo us w h o were hal f d epraved and hal f

-
,
-
in t a c t who were never h ot w ith l ove or col d with

—
,
hate these never knel t before the upl ifte d hand

‘
of the Sacr ed Heart They are th e kind that Scrip

.
ture says shal l be vomited fro m the very mouth

of God .
A s th e arches of the centuries mark the p a th

w a y of history the crib be c ame t he Church which
,
O ur B l essed L ord grounded up on Peter I t is in .

,
d eed remarkabl e that onl y th e same two c l asses

,
of p eop l e w ho fo und their way to the crib find their

way to th e Church Onl y the heirs of th e shep
.
herd s and the descend a nts of the wis e men ever

enter its sacred p ortal s This is j ust another way .
of saying th a t th e Church h a s room onl y for tw o

extremes : those w h o thi nk and those wh o d o not ,
think ; but it has no room for those wh o think that

they think .
TH E E TE RNAL GALILE A N 23
The Church I say is found first by the simp l e :

, ,
that gre at ma ss of men and women whose ignor

ance is more il l u mined th a n the doctrines of
l earned men—simp l e soul s w h o because of their
ordinary routine l abors l ike sheph erds on J u d ean
,
hil l s h ave n o time for l e a rned study or w h o if

, , ,
they d o have time prefer l ike thos e same shep

,
herd s to be instructed by the a ngel s or the a mbas

sa d or s of G od
. For this gre at army which d o es
not think there is the authority of the Church
, ,
which they accept with the s a me l oving obedience

with which a chil d accept s the dictates of its p ar
ents Th ey do not wa nt to know wh y the Church
.
cal l s the eternal birth of the Second Person of the

Trinity a gener ation and the procession of the
, .
Thir d Per son a spir ation ; th ey d o not wa nt to

know h ow the accid ents o f bread and wine can
exi st without the s u bstance of bread and wine any ,
more than a chil d w a nts to know the d et ail s of the

city government under which his p arents vote .
They want only to know wha t the Church te a ches

—that is enough They want onl y to know what
the Vicar o f Christ s a ys—this sati sfies them The
.
worl d c a l l s them fool s a nd says the Church is

,
filled with the ignorant Y es the Church is fi lled

.
,
with millions of simple souls who obey a uthority

for no other reason th a n bec a u se it is a uthority
but that does not m ean they are fo ols I t is only .
another way of saying the ca ve of B ethl ehem was

fil l ed with shepherds .
B ut th e Church t a kes care not onl y of those

who do not think but al so of those w h o d o think :
,
and b y tho se w h o think I mea n th e profou nd ans "
the real seekers after truth From the days of the

.
l earned Pa ul down to ou r own the Chur c h has had

, .
24 TH E E T E RNAL GALILEAN
to take care of the l e arned the profound and the , ,
wi se m en Ther e have b een those who wanted to

.
know not onl y the a uthority of the Church but th e ,
re ason b ehind a uthority ; not onl y that the Ch u rch

is inf a l l ibl e but why the Church is infal libl e ; not
,
onl y th a t ther e are three Persons in the Bl essed

T rinity but why there are not four
, The Church .
has to t a ke c ar e of th em as th e crib had to hus

,
b a n d the M agi and to those mind s w h o wo ul d

,
drink d eep of the Pieri a n spring who woul d t a ke ,
soundings of the I nfinite and wo ul d se arch with ,

'
the tel es cop e of faith those unexp l ored r egions of

thought which the eye of re a son c a nnot a ttain the ,
Church throws op en the d eep wel l s o f phil osophy

a nd theol ogy in comp arison to which al l ou r
,
higher m athem atic s a nd astral physics are but the

sh a l l ow streams o f the pr a iries a nd the p l a ythings
of the hum a n m in df T h e worl d says th at such

I
‘
l e arning of th e Church is va in ; th a t theol ogy is

not profound A ye ! that it is fool ish !
. B ut th a t
is onl y a noth er w a y of s a ying that the Wise M en
'
were va in enou gh to fol l ow a star until it l ed to

G od .
B ut between the extremes of the simp l e soul s

w h o l ive by f a ith w h o are content to be chil d r en
,
al l their sp iritu a l l ives a nd the l e arned soul s l ike

,
A ugu stine and A quin a s wh os e torches of wisdom ,
l it at the foot of the cr ucifix continue to il l umine

a d arkened worl d—between th ese extremes there
,
is no me a n . The s1m p le shepherds heard the voice

of a n angel a nd found th eir L amb ; the wis e men
”
saw the l ight of a st a r a n d found their Wi s dom

, .
B ut Hero d th e Gre a t who l ived within a dozen

,
mil es of the shepherd s and was visit ed by the Wi se

M enen r ou te to the c rib neve r found o —
G d not ,
26 TH E E T ERNAL G ALILEAN
was onl y a n instrument and so they fol l ow ed their
.
,
science of the st a rs until it brought them to the

Maker of the S t ars the W i sdo m of the W orl d and
, ,
the L ight of Men Who is Christ O ur L ord

, .
Onl y th e teachabl e find th e T eacher onl y the ,
d ocil e find the D octor onl y the h umbl e find the ,
E xalted The si mple s ouls like the Shepherds

. , ,
find God bec a use they know they know nothing ;

th e r ea lly l earned soul s l ike the W ise Men find
'
‘
G od because they k now they d o not know every

thing A nd from that d ay to this the great mass
.
of converts to the Church is made u p of simp le
soul s l ike the poor old wo man wh o wanted to be a

‘
C athol ic because sh e woul d l ike to say her beads

before O ur L or d in the tabernacl e and the real l y ,
learned souls like Chesterton Dawson Maritain , , ,
wh o know so much h istory phil osophy and litera , ,
ture th a t they c oul d not r esist the irresistibl e

:
grac e of G od That too is why God sends into each

.
age of history the saint consp i cuo us for the virtue

the worl d needs most A nd so in thes e d ays of .
p ride and self-c on ceit He ra ised up the L ittle ,
Fl ower wh o although p ossessed of th e Wisdom

, ,
that saves was as simp l e as a chil d and wh o

, ,
although l iving in a day when men j u dged p ower

by the great things they could raise up on earth ,
rather j udged p ower by the roses sh e wo ul d l et

fal l from heaven Th r ough h er inter c ession hun
.
dred s of thou sand s of converts have been brought

I
to the Wisdom of the Crib a nd the Strength of the
Cro ss Through her the extremes of si mplicity and
.
l earning meet in the Ch urch Through her the .
ignorant p easant and th e university professor find

a c ommo n ground : they know what each must be
l ieve A nd so the Church may be d efined as a
.
THE E T E RNAL GALILE A N
p l ace wher e we can stand resp o n sibl e for one a n

other s o pinions The l earned know what the sim
’
.
ple must bel ieve and the simp l e know what the
,
learned must bel ieve n a mel y that there is no other

, ,
name under the heavens given to men whereb y

they may be saved than th e nam e of the B abe in
,
the Crib B ut the Hero ds of the worl d never find

.
the Church as they never find Christ—not even in

their attempt to sl a ugh t er it ; and the reason is
that men never feel a tug tow ard th e Ch u rch until
they have c eased to p ul l against it They must
treat it with an op en m lnd—ev en when they fear
.
that it m ay be right—but that is j ust another way

again of saying we must be humbl e .
O ur L ord was not bor n under an op en sky ,
under w hich men might wal k erect b ut in a c av e ,
e ntrance to which can be gained onl y by s t ooping .
The stoop is the stoop of h umil ity S ome minds .
ar e too proud to stoop and so th ey miss the Joy
that is insid e th e cave Th e Shepherds and W ise

.
Men were humbl e enough to stoop and when t he y ,
stoop ed t hey found they were not in a cav e at al l ,
but in another worl d where th ere l ived a beautiful

woman with the su n above her head th e moon be ,
neath her feet and in her arms the Babe in Whose

,
tiny fin gers was p oi sed the very earth in which we

live. A nd a s Sh epherd s an d W ise M en knelt in
adoration I wond er wheth er the wise envied the
,
simpl e or the simp l e envied the wise

, I bel ieve .
the Wise M en envied the Shepherd s because their

—
,
way was quicker they were not so l ong i n di *

covering that Wisdom wh ich is Go d , .
28 T HE E T ERNAL G ALILEAN
TH E A RT IS AN OF NA ZA RE TH
A dd r e ss del iv e ed on January 7 1934
r ,
I n the past man talked l ess abo ut l iving his l ife ,
and more abo ut saving his so ul B ut in o ur age

.
the emphasis h a s shifted from the religious and

the moral to the p ol itic a l and th e eco nomic The
v
.
,
attractio n toward he aven h a s decreased and the ,
gra it a tion toward th e ear th incr eas ed The sm .
gl e quest for Go d has given w ay to the doubl e quest

for Power and Wealth The mo d ern m an isol ated
.
from Go d and uprooted from the great spiritual

p atrimo n y of the age s craves to satisfy the ego
,
tism of his mind by commanding and the egotism ,
of his bo dy by enj oying H ence the successful

.
man of ou r d ay is the m an wh o has Power and the

man w h o has Wealth .
B ut running cou ilt er to these mo dern ideal s is

'
a doubl e forc e seeking to d estroy th em : the force

of A n a rchy an d the force of B ol shevism A narchy .
contend s that al l Power is wrong and henc e woul d ,
throw al l government s into the d ust B ol shevism .
hol d s that a ll Wealth 1s wrong and hen ce wo ul d

,
confisc a te private fortunes to swel l the co ffers of

the State .
'
I n the fa ce of the se two extremes : the one

gl orifying Power and Wealth and the other con, .
d em ning them the e a rnest sou l seeks a sane sol u

,
~
tion . He a sks him sel f such qu estions a s these :

A r e Power and Wealth absol utel y vicious ? I s a
man wrong in wanting to be a M aster or in desir ,
ing to be rich ? I s th e A narchist on the co ntrary

, ,
j us t ified in condemning all Power and th e Com ,
m u nist right in d estroying a ll Wealth ?

Th ere is onl y one yard stick by which these
ide als may be measured and that is the L ife ,
and Doctrine of Him Who wal ks a cross the mo dern

stage as Time shifts its sc enery from N a zareth to
N ew York a nd from Genesar eth to the Th a mes .
The Hid d en L ife of Naz a r eth is th e etern a l answer

to the probl em a nd the a n swer is : th a t Power and
,
We a lth ar e l egitim ate ambitions and ide a l s but ,
a nd here Our L ord bre a ks with the mo dern worl d

—no m a n h as a r igh t to P o wer u ntil h e ha s lea rned
to obey, and n o m a n has a r igh t to Wea lth u ntil he
h a s lea rned to be d etach ed This is th e do ubl e
.
l esson of N az a reth cont a ined in the onl y two sim

pl e facts we know abo ut H is hid d en ye ars : firstl y ,
th at He was s ubj ect in obedience to His Par ents ,
a n d se c ondl y that He was a p oor vil l a ge carp enter

, .
N azareth is not a trite story about the beauty

of sl avery and subj ection as som e enemies of ,
Christi a nity woul d have us bel ieve I f O ur L ord

v
.
wer e merel y a human chil d without any Di ine

prerogatives then the C arpenter Sh op might reve a l
,
th e l esson that Power was wrong B ut obedience is .
onl y hal f the l esson of N a z a reth O ur L ord was

—
.
obedient yes He w as a servant—yes H e was

—
. .
subj ect yes . B ut He w as more than that ! He

w as a Power Who became obedient a Mast er Who ,
beca m e a servant and a L ord Who came not to be

,
mini stered unto but to minister H is Power in the .
huma n order re a ched back through forty two gen -
er ations to A br a h a m and in the Divine ord er to

,
the etern a l generation in the bosom of the E ternal

Father ; His Power at birth w a s sal uted by the
harping symphonies of A ngeli c G lori a s ; His power ‘ ‘
at twelve confound ed the Wis e D octors o f the T em ~

TH E E T E RNA L GALILEAN
Power at thirty made the u nconscio u sw aters bl ush
into wine and th e seething sea hush into c al m ;
a nd His Power a t thirty three reminded a Pontius
-
Pil ate about to execute his authority as governor

and rul er that the real seat of his p ower w as not
in R ome but in the h eavens above wher e h e woul d
,
one d a y have to render an ac c ount of his steward
ship A nd yet H e Wh o had al l this Power and

v
.
Who said that to Him al l p o w er 1s g1 en on

“
”
he aven and on earth p assed practi c al l y the whol e
,
of His l ife in a despised vil l age and degraded v al
l ey with no flash of outward p omp and cir c u m

,
stance sub j e c t to a Virgin and a j ust man whom

, ,
H e knew before they wer e mad e and wh o after ,
they were made were real l y His O wn chil dren .
What was al l this but a l esson to the wo rl d whi ch

m l su nd er stand s Power either by gl orifying it or
, ,
“
by overthrowing it : namel y that no man has a
v
‘
right to com mand until he has l earned to ser e ,
and no man has a right to be a master until he has

l earned to be obedient ?
Why has so much of th e Power in th e histor y
of the worl d d egenerated into Tyranny ? Why has
so much of th e A uthority of governme nts in the
histor y of the worl d corru pted into Force

‘
? I t is
becaus e tho s e w h o had Power did not know h ow
to obey and thos e wh o h a d A uthority did not kn ow
,
h ow to be subj ect N ow if thos e w h o have Power

.
,
whether it be the he a ds of gover nments the l ead ,
ers of nations or the masters of pol itic a l influ ence

, ,
recognize no Power above them whos e l aws the y

must obey and whose j udgment they must fear ,
then where shal l they learn that ob edience with

ou t which no man can j ustl y govern ? I f there be
no King of Kings then wh at shal l st ay Power
,
TH E E T E R NAL GALILEAN 31
from d egenerating into Tyranny What was ?
Pil ate but the Power of R ome without the obedi ,
ence of N azareth ? Wh a t is social snobbery but ,
roya l birth without Nazarene simpl icity ? What is

Prid e but a Pal m S und ay without th e sob ering
,
prel u de of a C arp enter s sh O p ?

’
O ur L ord c ame
into this worl d not to cond emn Power : F or what
is Power but the L aw of G od in the he arts of men ,
a s wel l as in th e kernel of th e s eed O ur L ord did

?
not co m e to take away Power He came to t ea c h

.
u s h ow to u se it He came to tel l u s that no man

.
shal l exercise h is Power in the p omp of Jerusalem ,
until he has l earned to s erve in the s ervi tud e of

N a z areth ; tha t no man sh a l l be a general unti l he
h as l ea rned how to s erve in the ranks and that no ,
one shall be a lo r d until he has learned to be u h
. v '
l ordl y S a l ation in a worl d crisis l ies therefore , ,
not in revol utionary attempts to up set govern

’
ment s nor in the anar c hist s a ttempt to s ubvert
,
authority nor in the dem a gogic democracy which

,
woul d su fi er no other he a d to mount above one s ’
o w n — rather do es salvation l ie in al l p owers p ol i ,
tical soci al an d economic becoming subj ect to a

, , ,
Power above them I f they d o this then they c an

.
,
sa y they are entitl ed to obed ien c e becaus e they are
obedient to the Power above them ; t han the y can

sa y they must be resp ected as an authority be ,
cause they have l earned to obey their A uthor ; th en

they can say they must be reverenced because th ey ,
ar e reverent to their God .
N azareth has yet anoth er l esson to teach and ,
th a t is th a t no one is entitl ed to We a lth u ntil h e

'
has l earned to b e d et a ched I n other words

v
.
,
N a z areth is not j ust a simp l e gl orifi c ation of po

erty, a fat a l istic r esign ation to squal or a cal m ,
indifferenc e about hard ship and hunger N either .
is it a cond emnatio n of wealth I n N azareth Our .
L ord was po or—yes He w a s a needy vil l a ge car

—
.
p en t er yes H e worked for th e mere nec essities

.
of l ife—yes B ut He was more th a n that ! He was

.
n ot j ust a Poor M an H e w a s a R ich M an Wh o

.
became p oor j u st as H e was a p owerful M an

,
W ho becam e obedient His we a lth w a s the treasure

.
of Heaven which rust does not eat moths consume , ,
nor thieve s bre a k thro ugh and steal ; His weal th

’
w a s the wealth not of a c arpenter of N az a reth

, ,
but the wealth of a C a rpenter Wh o made the uni

verse with its cano py of gl ittering stars and its
‘
carp et of l il ies which toil not neither d o they sp in ,

.
His wealth was the m a nsions of His Father s H ouse ’
which H e h a d s een th e be a uty o f which the hum a n

,
eye hath never seen nor the ear he ar d: nor the

he a rt of man con c ei ed
,
v
A nd yet with al l the
wealth of God He bec a me p oor ; for He chose to
.
,
be born in a shepher d s cave work a s a trad esm a n

’
, ,
pre a ch as a vag abond with nowhere to lay His ,
H ead die on a p oor man s cross a nd be buried in

,
’
,
a stranger s grave
’
The worl d before had heard
.
of we a lthy men g i vi ng aw a y their weal th to be
phil anthrop i sts The worl d had he a r d B ud dha ask

.
h is discip l es to r enounc e wealth h a d s een C r ates ,
of Thebes give his gol d to the p oor and heard the ,
Stoics eul ogiz e p overty at rich b anqu ets ; b u t the

worl d before h a d never heard of p overty being not
an ascetic rul e n ot a pro ud d isguis e for ostenta
,
tion not a phil osophic a l ornament n or a mystic

,
moo d but a step to higher p erfection which is

,
union with the S pirit of God Others had sai d .

,
“ ” “
S el l a ll you h a ve ; but onl y H e ad d ed Then ,
”
come fol l ow Me H is l ife and d octrine a r e not
.
cl a sses have found it exp edient to expl oit Him to
the utmost .
O ur L ord never sought to keep the poor satis

fi ed with their p overty nor the miserabl e satisfied
,
with their misery j ust bec a u s e they were p oor

,
or becaus e they were mi serabl e He gl orified not .
the Po or M an not th e R ich Man but the Poor Man

, ,
who was not always p oor ; th e Poor M an wh o once

w a s rich ; the Poor Man wh o by th e l aw of d etach
m ent p ossessed everything because He desired ,
nothing ; th e Poor M an. wh o became p oor not by ,
giving away H is Wealth but by exchanging it for ,
th e in c o mmensurabl e riches of heaven A nd a l l .
this is onl y another way of saying not B l essed are ,
the R ich not B l essed ar e the Poor bu t Bl essed are

, , ,
the P oor in S pir it .
Wh en He Who w a s rich bec a m e so p oor th at He

co ul d comp l a in : The foxe s have their hol e s the ,
bir ds of the air h ave their nests but th e S on of ,
M a n hath nowhere to la y His Head ; and when He

to Whom a ll Power was giv en in Heaven and earth ,
girded Himsel f with a towel and on the night be

fore H e died humbl ed Himsel f by washing the feet
of His own A p ostl es He taught us h ow to be p oor
,
without being communists and how to be obedient ,
witho ut being re vol utioni sts He reminded u s that .
p overty and sl avery no more entitl e a m an to the

kingdom of he aven th a n d o We a l th and Power ,
but th at the rich m an woul d enter heaven if he

w oul d be p oor in spirit a nd the p owerful m asters
woul d enter he aven if fol l owing His examp l e in
the U p p er R oom they woul d act as the servants of
G od The c arp enter s sho p therefore is not a
’
.
, ,
truism a b o ut the be a uty of p overty and the h ol i

ne ss of sl avery I t is a p aradox a bout the richness
.
TH E E TERNAL GALILEAN 35
of the poo r in spiri t and the p ower of the M asters

,
wh o s erve .A s a matter of fa ct O ur B l essed L ord

,
is the Onl y One Who ever wal ked this dreary earth
of ours of W hom th e R ich and the Poor the M a s
,
r
ters and the Serv a nts the Powerful and the Sl aves
, ,
c ould say : H e cam e fr om ou r r anks ! H e is on e of

ou r own !
TH E WAR WITH T E M P TAT IO N

A dd r ess del ive r ed on Ja n ua y
r 1 4, 1 9 3 4 .
The gre at ch ara cteristic of our a ge is not its

l ove of religion but its l ove of t alking about religion
, .
E ven th ose who w ould smite God from the he ave ns

make a religi on out of their irre ligion and a faith ,
out of their d oubt On all sides—from a thou sand

.
pens a hundred microphones scores of university

, ,
ro strums— w e h ave he a rd it repe ated until our very

v
,
“ ”
he a ds reel that the acids of modernity ha e e aten
,
a way the old faith and the old m or a lity and th at ,
the modern m an must h ave a new religi on to suit

the new spirit of the age .
This new relig i on we are told must be a bsolute

, ,
ly di fferent from anything that ever existed before .
I t must be j ust as fresh and modern as the brilliant

a ge i n which we l ive with its new hopes new vis
, ,
ion s an d new dreams When we inquire diligently

, .
into the char a cteri stics of this new religion we are ,
told it mu st be social it must b e politi c al it must

, ,
be worldly .
By s ocial they mean it mus t dedicate itself not ,
to the illu sory pur suit of the spirit but to the prac ,
tic al needs of th e body The religious man of the .
new er a will b e the one who gives bread to hungry

stom a chs clothes to n aked b acks and roofs to u h
, ,
sh eltered he a d s Better milk for b ab ies better play

. ,
grounds for children better bread for the po or ,
these an d not fa ith gr a ce and sacr a ments are the

, , , ,
thing s on which m anlives ; and that religion whi ch

gives the se soci al nece ssities is the religion of the
future .
N ext we ar e told th at the new relig i on must be

,
political and by th at is me ant tha t it should ce ase

,
talking about the Kingdom of God and begin talk

ing ab out the republics of earth All its energies .
an d zeal mu st b e directed to support government al
p olicie s such as liquor contro l gold st and ards and , ,
l abor codes ; there must b e a swing away from the

stre ss on eternity pr ayers and the communion of
, ,
sa int s ; for the world problem s in need of a s oluti on

'
a r e not religiou s bu t economic an d political

, .
The final characteristic of the new cult will be

its worldline ss Too long we are told has religion
.
, ,
emphasized responsibility to God an d dwelt on du ,
ties to Him inste a d of service to ou r fellowmen

, .
The new religion h a s no time for the thought of re

sponsibility to God for the modern m an George
, ,
Bern ard Shaw tells us is too busy to think about his

,
sins . It m akes m an the m aster of all he surveys ,
the lord of h is ow n life and therefore one who may

sh uffle off by his own ha nd if he chooses ; for who
is the re w h o will d are say N ay ?
Now let us ask the new prophets : How old is
their new religion I s it really a new thing or is it
?
merely an old error with a new l abel ? L et us go

b ack two th ous and ye ars to the E ternal Galile an an d
le arn n ot only th at the n ew religion is j ust an old
tempt ati on but also that resist ance to it is the
,
pledge an d prom i se of L ife E verl asting .
Go b a ck to the picture of Our Blessed L ord as

He stood in the unten anted wildern ess which
stretches southw ard fr om Jericho to the Dead Sea .
There His forerunner John with bronzed cou nten ,
a nce un shorn locks le ather girdle and mantle of

, , ,
c amel s hair whose drink w as the w ater of the river

’
,
and whose food w as locusts and wild honey saw the ,

heavens open and the Spirit of God descend in do ve
like radiance ove r his M a ster s He a d as there rang ’
,
out over the Jordan river a voice which to unpurged

“
e ars was like thunder : Thou art my beloved S on ,
”
in thee I am well pleased Thus Christ s first public .
’
act of self abasement in coming to John to be bap

-
,
tiz ed was followed by the first solemn declaration

,
by the F athe r that He was the S on of God Be c ause .
H e h u mb led Himself God th e Father exalt ed Him

'
.
, ,
With the w aters sti ll dripping from H is noble ‘
head O u r Lord wen t out into the solitude to put a

,
desert b etween Himself and humanity F or forty .
years the Jewish people wandered in the desert b e

f ore entering i nto the kingdom pr omised by God .
F or forty d ays Moses remained cl ose to God to r e

v
cei e Hi s l aw on tablets of stone A nd now before .
,
announcing His Ki ngdom to which Moses an d the ,
chosen people had pointed O ur Blessed S aviour r e ,
tires for forty days into the lonely mount ains where
no human fa c e was to be s e en and where no human
voice was to be heard A nd a fter forty days of fast
.
ing He was tempted by Satan Tempted He could .
b e for He had taken the arm our of human flesh not

, ,
for idleness but for b attle Oh ! D o not mock the

, .
.
Gospels and say there is no S atan E vil is too real .
in the world to say th at Do not say the idea of S atan

.
is dead an d gone S atan never gains so many co

.
horts as when i n his shrewdness he spreads the

, , ,
rumor that he is long since dead D o not rej ect the .
Gospel because it says the Saviour was tempted .
—
Sat an always tempts the pure the other s are al
ready his Satan station s more devils on monastery
.
walls than in dens of iniquity for the latter offer no ,
resistance Do not say it was absurd that Satan

.
‘
should appear to Our L ord for S atan must a lways , ,

TH E E TE R NAL GALILEAN 39
come close to —
the godly and the strong the others
suc cumb from a distan c e .
But in what did Satan tempt Christ ? Here is

the remarkable side of that temptat ion and one ,
which has a bearing on our own day Satan tempted .
Our Blessed L ord to preach another religion than

that which He was about to preach Our L ord was .
about to pre a ch a divine religion Sat a n tempted .
H im to prea ch a religion that was not divine but ,
the religion which the modern world call s new : a

religion which would be so c ial p olitical and worldly
, , .
S atan first tempted O ur Lord to make religion

soc ial : to make it center about the m aterialities of
life such a s bre ad for starving bodies like His own
, .
Pointing from the top of the mountain to the stones

whose sh ap es resembled little loaves of bread he ,
“ ”
said : Comm a nd th at these stone s be made bread .
I t w as Sat an s ch allenge to God to make religion

’
c enter around the materi alities of life But the .
“
answer of Our Blessed L ord w as immediate : N ot in
bread alone doth m an live but in every word that
,
”
proceedeth from the mouth of God By that re .
spo u se Our L ord decl a red th at religion is n ot s ocial

, ,
in the sense that its primary function is to give food

to the body b ut rather divin e in the sense that it
‘
must gi v e food to the soul Men must have bread !

.
There is no disputing that point O ur L ord taught.
“
us to ask the Father to give us this day ou r daily
”
bread ; He even went so far when men were in ,
dire need of it in the desert pla c es to multiply bread

,
even to excess But beyond th at He told the thou

.
“
sands at Caph arnau m He w ould not go You seek .
me. because you did eat of the lo aves an d were ,
filled L abour not for the me at which peri sheth but

. ,
”
for that whi ch endureth unto life e v erlasting R e .
ligion then is not purely social If salvation were .
only econ omi c relief if religion were only to give

,
bread to hungry stomachs then dogs would be in

v
,
ited to its banquet N 0 ! Man has a higher principle

.
than that of the beasts and a higher life than that

,
of the body We c ome into this world not j ust to sit

.
and rest to work a nd play to eat and drink Hen c e

, , .
that religion which would m a ke the procuring of

bread its chief obj ect in life and would seek no di ,
vine food would st arve with hunger in the midst of

,
—
plenty and that is why modern religion is dying .
There must come d ark hours when God mu st be

trusted ev en in hunger There must even come mo
, .
ments i n st arvation when bread must be refused if ,
it means the sacrificing of a principle that endangers

the soul .
I t is no j ustificatio n to say we mu st live be c ause ,
bodily life in itself is not necessarily the be st thing

for us I t is better for us not to live if we c a nnot
.
,
live without sin For it is never right for us to

.
starve ou r S piritual n ature to get bre a d for ou r

bodies S ometimes the best thing that we c an do
.
with ou r life is to lose it ; and the best thing we can

d o with ou r body is not to fear th ose w ho would kill
it but r ather those who would cast ou r soul into
,
hell R eligion need n ot neglect sociolo gy ; the priest

.
at the communion rail need not fo rget the bread

lines ; the minister in the s anctu ary need not forget
the playgrounds The earthly the hum an and the
. , ,
social are part of religi on but not pr i mary a s Satan

, , ,
would have u s believe R ather in searching for .

,
“
higher things do we find the lo wer : S eek ye there
,
fore fir st the kingdom of God and his j ustice and , ,
”
all thes e things sha ll b e added unto you .
42 TH E E T E R NAL GALILEAN
store the p olitics of the world but to make a new
Kingdom which needs neither armies nor navies ,
s oldiers nor monies slaves nor j udges but o

, nly r e ,
newe d and living souls I repeat He did not say .

,
religion must not be concerned with social inj usti c e

or with politic a l gr aft Our L ord loved His ow n
.
country so deeply and warmly that as the first

v
,
Christian p atriot He wept over it B u t h e a lso lo ed

v
.
,
th e Kingd om of H ea en so mu ch m or e tha t H e was

w illing to be pu t to d ea th by the er y cou n tr y tha t v
v
H e lo ed While time endures , S a t an will always
.
tempt religion to b e wh olly p olitical but until the ,

“
end of ti me the due order must be preserved : Ren
der therefore to C a esar the things th at are C aesars ;
,
” ’
a nd to G od the things that are God s
,
.
Sat a n s last a ssault w a s an effort to m ake reli

’
‘
gi on worldly The Gosp el tells us S atan br ought

“
.
him to Jerus alem ah d set him on a pinn a cle of the

,
temple and he s aid to him : I f thou be the Son of

,
G d cast thyself from hence For it is written th at

v th
o
v
. , ,
,
h e ha th gi en his a ngels char ge o er ee, that th ey
keep th ee : And th at in th eir hands th ey sha ll bear

th ee up, les t p er haps thou d ash thy f oot a gainst a
ston e A.
nd Jesus answering said to him : I t is said :
”
Thou s ltha n ot t em p t th e L o r d t h y G o d Wh a t a ~
.
lesson is hidden i n th at answer for those w h o woul d

m ake religion wo rldly by emptying it of all respon
sibility an d by m a king God merely a p a ssive s pe ct a
tor of ou r falls and our sui c ides The plea to cast .
Himself down fr om the pinnacle w as not a sign of

trust in God but disbelief in God I t was an appeal
,
. ,
not to a n atur a l appetite but to a perverted

, pr i de
which a ssu mes that G od is indifferent to ou r a cti ons
and disinterested in ou r decl S l onS The answer of .
O u r L ord was a re m i nder th a t re l i gi on c enters

about responsible p erson s and not ab out f alling ,
bodie s ; that man is end owed with free will and is

therefore re spons ible for e a ch of his a ctions down
even to the le a st ; and th at the universe in w h ich he
lives is moral and therefore one i n which we mount
,
by m aking ou r dead selves st epp i ng stones to high er

things That worldly religion which denies r espon
.
sibility sin and j ud gment w ould reduce us all to

, , ,
mer e stones falling f rom the giddy heights of stony

‘
pinn acles ; it would m a ke us merely material bodies

obeying the law of gr avitation which pulls u s to the
ea rth inste a d of spiritu al being s which like fir e
, , ,
mount up beyond the st ars to the L ight of the World .
“ ”
R eal religion does not say : C a st thyself down but ,
“ ”
lift thyself up ; for we are destined not to be
stones of earth but immort al Children of God , .
Heaven and not the world is our final destiny A nd .
so instead of casting Him self d own like a cheap an d

,
vulgar m agici an O ur L or d c asts S atan down and

, ,
then goes out to another mount ain top to give from

its heights the B eatitudes of God which le a d to ,
beatitude with God in the everla sting glory of

he aven .
Thus the so c alled new religion proves to be an

-
old religion which S at a n would e st ablish on e arth .
There is no new birth in this new f a ith but the ,
sa me old spirit in the s a me old A d a m full of sel ,
fi shness envy and sin By v anquishing temptation

, , .
the E tern al Galil ean h a s trumpeted to all n ations

and to all time the supreme t ruth that religion is
not primarily soc ial or politic al or worldly R ather

, , .
its function is to minister Divine L ife to so

ciety Divine Ju stice to p olitics a n d D ivine Forgive
, ,
ness to the w orldly The world tod ay is re ally seek

.
ing such a divine religion an d is ne a r starvation a s

.
,
modern sects bring to it only the husk s of human
ism T he minds of tod ay are beg inning to see that
.
our problems a r e not prim a rily econ omic and politi

cal but religiou s and mor al ; th at s ociety will not
,
and c annot be reform ed from without but only from ,
within It is only by the spirit of Christ and the

.
spirit of prayer t h at the freedom of man won by ,
bloodshed and n ation a l sacrifice can be safeguard ,
ed a n d preserved The sh attering of all ou r ma

’
.
ter ial illusions during the World War and during

the pre sent econ omic recession has m a de the cle ar
Visidned minds of our d ay see th at apost a sy from
the principles of the S aviour the ab a ndonment of ,
the spiritual life and the tr ansgression of the com

,
mandm ents of God h ave led of n ece ssity to our ruin

,
a n d confusion w orse confounded .
There is hope for us and a glorious hope it is , ,
in the Victory of C hrist over Sat an By permitting .
the Prince of D a rkne ss to tempt Him even though ,
it w a s wholly exterior and did not touch His sinless '
soul He proved th at He is not insensible to our dif

,
fi cu lties our sorrows a nd our tempt ations We ca n

, , . -
not say to Him wh at S atan said to God about Job :

“
B ut put f orth thy h a nd and touch h is bone and ,
his fle sh and then thou sh alt see that he will bless

,
”
thee to thy face Our L ord does know what it is
.
to be tempted a w ay from divinity and the primacy

of the spirit ; His bones His flesh were touched unto , ,
sc ourging a nd crucifixion an d H is answer w as ,

.
“
greater than Job s Job answered : The L ord gave
’
. ,
”
the L ord taketh aw ay so pr aise be the L ord But ,
.
“
the Saviour answered : Not my will but thine ,
be done ”
O ur King th en is One Who knows what
‘
it is to have His arm or a ss a iled by temptation

“
for in the language of P a ul : We have not a high
,
E ET ERNAL G ALILEAN
THE 5
prie st w h o c ann ot h ave compas sion on our infi rmi

,
ties : but one tempted in all things like as we are ,
without sin L et us go therefore with c onfidence to

.
the thr one of grace : th at we m ay obta in mercy and ,

”
find gr ace in season able a id I n Him we will find . .
One Who feeds us not on earthly bre a d which per

i shes but on the heavenly m a nn a which endures
v
,
unto life everl asting ; in Him we find One Who a n

q u ish es Satan w h o w ould h a ve us exch ange an im
,
morta l soul for the perish able cities of the world ;

in Him we find One Who a sks us not S ata n like to ,
-
,
cast our selves down as stone s from temples but to ,
lift ourselves up a s souls into heaven He w a s b orn .
to change the world to m a ke its religi on unworldly

, ,
its worship divine and its food the E ucharist ; He

,
lived to te a ch u s that life is a str uggle and that ,
only those w ho persevere un to the end shall be

s aved ; He was tempted to remind us that as there
w as a flash of arch a nge lic S pe ars when His F ather
'
'
closed the gates of he aven on the back of Sat an so ,
shall there be a fl ash of spe ars and arrows of

he a ven directed pr ayer a s His Church closes the
-
gates of e arth upon him who would m a ke himself,
like unto God ; for Christ the King the S aviour , , ,
was b orn lived and died and rose to drive Satan

, , ,
fro m earth as His Father had driven him fro m

heaven .
TH E WAY TH E T RUTH AN D TH E LIFE

, ,
A dd r e ss deliv er ed on Jan u a ry 2 1 , 19 3 4
T here is a gener a l tendency in ou r day to frown

upon the belief that O ur Blessed Lord is different
from other religious le a ders and reformers Hence .
it is not unc ommon to he a r one who p r ides himself

on his br oadmindedne ss— which give s offen se to no
religi on and a defense of none—fling out a phrase
,
in which B uddha Confucius Laotse Socrates and

, , , ,
Christ are all mentioned in one and the same

, .
bre ath ; a s if O ur L ord were j ust another religious

te a cher inste a d of religi on itself .
I t is my purp ose to prove th at Our Ble ssed L ord

is unique in the religiou s history of the w orld an d ,
as di fferent from all other teachers and reformers

a s God is different fr om man Thi s can be done . ,
firstly by c on sidering three important revelations

,
in His life : when He s aid He w a s the Way when ,
He s a id He w as the Truth a nd when He said He ,
was the L ife ; a nd secondly by c ontrasting them with

,
the s ay i ngs of all religiou s te a chers whoever they be .
The first scene is in N az areth which is a kind ,
of backw ater a nowhere a her m it age off the beaten

, ,
tr a ck of life where seemingly no man w ould live

,
w h o loved the world an d whose a mbition rose above

that of a vill a ge carpenter or a tiller of the soil .
T o th at city which nestles in a cup of hills su r

, ,
rounding it like the petals of an opening fl ower and ,
“ ”
which I S c alled His own c ity Ou r Blessed L ord ,
returned shortly after the Opening of H is public lif e .
When everyone w as a ssembled in the synagogue

Our L ord unrolled the scroll of the Prophet I sai a s
'
at the well kn own sixty fi r st ch a pter which foretold

- -
the gre at day of Mercy when One sent by God would

fathom the depths of contrition bre a k the chains of
,
the slavery of sin and b ring sol a ce to a wounded

, .
world I n slow cle a r tones which thrilled the hearts

.
of everyone in the syn agogue that mem or able S ab

“
b ath m orning He read : The S pirit of the L ord is
upon me because the L ord hath anointed me : he
,
h ath S ent me to pre ach to themeek to heal the con ,
trite of heart and to pre a ch a release to the cap

v
,
”
ti es and deliverance to the m that are shut up
, .
He stopped re a ding and re st ored th e scr oll to the

chaz z an or clerk A mo ment of silence followed
.
, ,
which seemed like an E ternity The silence w a s .
broken as the E tern al seemed to step out of H is

eternity a nd let ring ou t over th at little group of H is
town smen the fulfillment of the pr ophecy of I s a i a s
“ ”
This day i s fulfilled thi s scripture in your ears .
For the moment they did not c atch the full i m

port of His words Then it dawned upon them that
.
the most prec i ous tradition and h Ope of their people

was verified ; that the Messias for Whom they had
yearned for these f our thous and years w a s now a c ,
tu ally standing before them ; that He to Whom I s a i as

pointed seven hundred ye ars before and about Whom
D avid sung on his prophetic lyre w a s now really ,
st a nding in full gaze of them all : for He w a s the
One in Whom all Scriptures were fulfilled : He w as

the E xpected of the N ations : He w a s E mm anuel
He w a s God with u s : He w as the unique Way of
Salvati on .
When Our Blessed L ord sat down it w as like ,
the dropping of a st age curtain which suddenly

throws us back to ou r selves and aw ay from the
drama which but a moment b efore absorbed our
!
every thought Now as they looked at one another

.
,
48 TH E E TERNAL GALILEAN
their old tones revived I nste a d of thinking of Him
.
a s the unique Way of S alv ation they remembered

‘
.
,
i
Him a s a poor c rpenter .j u st around the c orner
a
from the syn a gogue F or the village to submit to

.
such a man for the elders to b e taught b y a car

,
penter was not to be endured

, A prophet is with.
ou t honor in his own c oun try On one side were .
His own words that He w as the Way on the other ,
S ide w a s the f a ct th at He w a s one of their own ; and

the remark pas sed from mouth to mouth I s not
“
,
? ”
this Jesus the S on of Joseph
,
A cry of execr ation rose up and filled the syna

gogii e a protest against His intolerance a cry
‘
, ,
again st His narrowmindedness a compl a int again st ,
His a ssertiveness an d even His bl a sphemy for say

, ,
ing th at He w a s the W ay of God I n their excit e .
ment they rushed to Him hu stled Him out of the ,
syn agogue and into the street of the b az a ar outside

‘
With time their fury gathered strengt h They hur .
ried Him down through the vill age pa st the door ,
in which thirty years before H is Mother had received

the word of an angel round the c ur v e of the valley
,
below the town and up the gentle slope which ends

abruptly over the Valley of E sdr a elon Not only .
should He be driven through the villa ge He should ,
be thrown over the precipice beyond and meet the

de ath th at He deserved ! Th ey reached the peak of
the mountai nwhich drops precipitously like a yawn
ing chasm at the far end of the village T hey called .
to one another to pu sh Him over but something ,
str ange h ad happened Their cries of revolt seemed

.
hollow They looked at their Victim and no man

. ,
w h o ever saw Him ever forgot it to h is l a st hour .
A S if they were smitten by God the N az arenes fled ,
before the N az arene He left their city and never

.
ev er st udied nor did H e e v er sit at the feet of their
,
learned te a chers And so His auditors turned to .
“
one another say ing : H ow doth this man kn ow .
”
having never le arned ? A nd when they asked Him :
”
“
Who art thou ? they were st unned with the declar
ation that He Wh ose Truth was the Light of the
“
world possessed it from all eternity A nd Jesus .
'
said to them : The beginning who also S pe ak unto ,
you . His he arers not grasping the great truth ,

“
that He w a s the L ight of the world asked : A rt ,
thou greater than our f ather Abr aham w h o is ,

”
dead ? The response of Our L ord w a s an affi r ma
“
tion of His E ternity : Abr aham your f ather re
‘
j oiced th at he might see my day : he saw it and w as ,
” “
glad .They therefore s a id to Him : Thou art not
”
yet fifty years old and hast thou seen Abraham ? ,
“
Jesus s a id to them : A men amen I say to you b e , ,
”
fore Abr a ham w aS mad e I am
‘
.
,
“
I am ”
v
Ja h e I t w as terrific ! This Man of
. .
N azareth now made Himself equ al to L ight equal to ,
Truth equ al to God T o be the son of Abr ah am w a s

, .
to be their light ; to be the S on of God w a s to be the

L ight of the World I t is Our L or d s battle cry to an ’
-
.
erring world a tocsin sounding to sl aves to be lib

,
erated in the n ame of the Truth which makes men

free B ut j u st as the midd ay su n is too strong for
.
weak eyes so the L ight of th e W orld was too bril

,
liant for minds yet a ccustomed on ly to the c andle

light And so in their fury aga inst One Who cl a im
. ,
ed to b e the unique Truth of the world the L ight of ,
L ife and the Wisdom unborn in the agelessness of

,
eternity they picked up sto ri es to throw at Him But

,
.
as their arms drew b ack for the sling He had hidden ,
H i mself provin g on c e mor e that He was the Truth

,
.
TH E E T E R NAL GALILEAN 51
for Truth always hide s fr om those w h o seek to kill ,
and do not search in simplicity an d humility of heart .
The third s c ene took pl a ce in the countryside of

Caph arnaum I t was the day a fter He h a d fed five
.
thousand w ho had followed Hi ni int o the de sert and ,
from whom He hid lest they m ake Him king They

, .
were bent only on earthly life an d kingdoms of this

world He would now make one la st effort to bring
.
“
them to an under standing of H is mission : L abour
not for the meat which peri sheth but for th at ,
whi ch endureth unt o life everlas ting which the

S on of man will give you for h im hath God the ,
” “
Father sealed They said to Him : L ord give us
.
,
v
” “
alw ays this brea d A nd Jesus a nswered : I am the
.
bread of life the bread th at

. ill gi ve is my ,
”
flesh for the life of the world
, The l a st w ords .
were clear and emphati c A s He had bef ore said .
that He was the Way and the L ight so now He was ,
sayin g that He was the L ife of the W orld To be

v
.
lie er s and unbelievers alike it c a me a s a sh ock He .
w a s now identifying Himself with L ife as He had

identified Himself with Truth I mpossible or not .
,
He had said it .
His Person is L ife A nd so on the night before

.
He died He did that which no man else on dying

,
was ever able to do Others leave their prop erty

.
,
their wealth their titles But He on dying left His

, .
—
Life ; for otherwise how could men live without
L ife which is G d
o ?
These three scenes and the great lesso n in e ach

were repeated the night before He died O ur Blessed .
L ord giving His l a st disc ourse to His followers was

“
interrupted by Thomas asking : H ow can we know
the w ay ?” To which Je sus answered : I am th e “
”
way and the truth a n d th e life
, , .
N ow go b a ck to any other moral teacher the

'
world h as ever known and find a simil ar message .
Take any of them Buddh a Confucius Laotse S o

cr ates Moh ammed—it m ake s no di fference which
, , , ,
.
,
Not one of them identified himself either with the

Way of S alvation or with T ruth or with L ife They .
“ ”
al l said : I will point ou t the w ay ; but Our L ord
”
said : I am the Way They all s aid : I will tell you
“ “
.
how to possess truth or how to discover light but

“
O ur L ord said : I a m the Trut h— I a m the L ight of
” “
the World . They all s a id : I will help you atta in
” “ ”
undying life ; but Our L ord said : I am the L ife .
E very reformer every gre at thinker every pre a ch

, ,
er of ethic s in the history of the world pointed to

an ideal outside him self Our L ord did not H e . .
pointed to H ims elf? E very f ounder of a world re

ligion a sked men to look to their system which w as
a p a rt from their person s Our L ord did not He . .
p ointed to His Person Alcibi a des for ex a mple .

, ,
asked Socrates what he should a sk of the gods A nd .
Socr ate s told him to w a it for some great er tea cher

“
w h o w ould tell us h ow we were to conduct ourselves

” “
before God . Socr ates did not say L ook to me I , ,
” “
am the way R ather he s a id L ook after me and
.
, , ,
”
beyond me and out side me
,
There w a s a distinc .
tion between the m a ster a nd his system Wh at is .
true of Socr ates is equally true of B uddh a I n the .
Book of the Gre at Decease A n a nd a tries to obt a in ,
from B uddh a when h is end is ne ar direction and

, ,
“
consol ation and he a lth Buddha did not say B e . ,
” “ ” “
lieve in me or L ive by me but an swered Be a ,
”
l amp unto your self a nd a refuge unto yourself He .
was pr actic ally saying I am not the L ight I am not

“
,
TH E E TERNAL GALILEAN
”
the T ruth I t w as something outside him Con
. .
fu ciu s the great r e

, form er of the Orient repeatedly ,
“
di scl a imed any S peci al excellence in himself How .
” “
d are I he s aid r ank myself with the s age a nd the
, ,
m an of perfect virtue He was practically s aying ,

“
The L ife is not in me These i de als are distinct .
”
from my hi storic a l exi stence .
Wh at is true of the p ast is true of the present .
There is no reformer or pre a cher today who believes

th at he is the inc arn ation of the ide al At be st most .
,
of them would say that they were S ign posts p oint

ing to a he avenly Jerus alem but in no c a se that they ,
were the city itself .
But there was no ideal outside the histori c al life

of Christ .He is the ideal There w a s no system .
outside His person H is per son is the system There

. .
w as no way apart fr om His Way no truth apart ,
from H is Truth no life apart from His L ife There

, .
w a s nothing outside or beyond Him for in H i m a ll ,
the scattered w ays and truths and lives found their

center and source Mohammed ani sm i s not Moham
.
med ; Buddhism is not Buddh a These religions .
would be wh at they a r e without the f ounders But .
Chri sti anity is Chri st The Moslem on his de athbed

.
'
does not kiss an im age of Moh a mmed and die bre ath
ing his n ame ; the dying Chin a m an does not whi sper
Confucius a s his soul goe s to God But th e Christi an .
does whisper the n ame of Chri st A nd why ? B e .
“
c a use he de sires only to be diss olved and to be with
Christ .
Such is the Person of O ur Blessed Lord Who

alone of all men combines the I de al and the H istor i
cal in H is own Person ; or better still He is th e only
R om ance that w as ever Histor i c al Bec a use He is .
the I deal there is the R omance of L ove ab out H is

,
-
Hist ory ; bec ause He is an Historical Person there
is the Truth about tha t R omance E veryone el se told
v
.
a R omance B ut O ur L ord li ed it E veryone else

. .
was as trite as history B ut the Hi storica l Christ .
was as R omantic as L ove A nd the more deeply we .
think about the matter the more we see that if God,
i s good we should look for His Way His Truth and

, , ,
His L ife not merely way w ay up there in the hea

, ,
vens but down here in the dust of our poor lives

, .
After all what have all people been hoping for at

,
all times except an I deal in the flesh They c ould not .
go on dreamin g dre a ms a nd painting symb ols F roz .
en abstractions cannot s atisfy a he art for a heart

cannot live on a system about Truth or a theory ,
ab out L ove or a h ypothesis about L ife The human

, .
heart c an live only on love A nd there is onl y one

thing a human heart can love—and that is a p erson
.
Make that person one with the Way to b e followed ,
one with the Truth to be known on e with the L ife ,
to be lived and that Way that Truth and that

, , ,
L ife will pull at a thous and heart strings drawin g

,
-
,
from the m the sw eet symphony of love .
Such is the Per son of Christ : the emb odiment of

our dreams—the flesh and blood of our hopes—the
R om ance of L ove which is as True and R eal as H is
tory That is why He is loved ; th at is why He is
.
adored ; that is why He is God He has many titles .
but there is one title dear to all w h o find in Him the

Way the Truth and the Life a title which c onfesses
, , ,
His Divinity which gives the creature a ready ac

,
ce ss to the Creator the sinner an easy approach to

,
the Hol y and ou r broken heart s an open d oor to the

,
mending L ove of the D ivine ; and that title whi ch

brings the I nfinite to the human in most beautiful ,
loving sweet familiarity is : The S a cr ed H ear t

,
.
TH E LI GHT O F TH E WO RLD
A dd ress del iv er ed on Jan u ar y 28 , 1 93 4 .
There ar e three great roles pl ayed by the E ternal

Galilean each of which is a revel ation Of Hi s Di
,
vine Char a cter : He is a Prophet or Te a cher a King ,
or the Center of Hearts and a Priest or the R edeemer

,
of the World The fir st of these role s th at Of

.
,
Te a cher we sh all consider today our purpose being

, ,
to set in relief j ust h ow O pp osed ar e the teaching

methods of Our L ord and tho se of the world Only .
a God could u se such unworldly methods and still

be succes sful in impres sing His me ss age on all ages
and all types Of mind .
First of all a word about the w orld as a t eacher

, .
The world has always h ad prophet s but it w a s re ,
served for our day to be surfeited with them N ever .
before in hi story h as there been so much thinking

and so little coming to the kn owledge of tr u th so ,
many scho ols and so little S chol arship so m a ny wise ,
men and so little wisdom so much talking about

,
religion and so little pr ayer There is no one point

.
on which any of these teachers is agreed there being ,
as m a ny opini on s a s there a r e he a ds B ut there is .
great u nanimi ty in the m ethod of their teaching .
A ll are agreed that a succe ssful m e ss a ge mu st pos

se ss three qualities : it must be smart it m us t be ,
modern and it must be liberal

, .
By sm a rt the world me ans the message mu st be

,
s ophistic ated so a s to a ppeal to the intelligent sia

“
and to frighten aw ay the uniniti ated The modern .
prophet a stounds u s wth his outpouring of quaint

scientific facts ; he dazzles u s with a deluge of high
sounding names in which sin is c alled a for m of
Oedipus R eflex and religion is defined a s a proj ection
into the roaring loom Of time or a unified complex
of psychical values ; he hints at vast authorities in
the background dwells on prehistory r ather than
,
hi story ; always trying to convince the man in the

street not how S imple a truth is but how complex
, ,
it is
.
S econdly the twentieth century prophets agree

,
that the me ssage m ust be liberal By this is me a nt .
th at it must reduce law to a few social virtues su b ,
stitu te hygiene for mor a lity p atriotism for piety

, ,
and sociology for religion The ideal must never

.
surp a ss an approxim ate j u stice a pproved by public

opinion ; there must be a minimum of restraint and
inhibition no mention Of m ortifi cation but endless
, ,
“
repetition O f catchword s such as evolution pr o
” “ ”
gress ,
service I n this way the
me ss age will attra ct the self righteous and at the -
,
s a me time not O ffend tho se who believe th at ethics

must b e suited to unethic al lives morals to immoral ,
ways O f living .
Fin a lly the present day prophet seeks not only to

,
be smart but also to be modern A bove all things

,
.
else he want s to conv i nce his he a rers th at his d oc
trine is suit ed to the age ; that we ha v e outgrown

other codes of mor als and religion ; that after all , ,
we do live in the twentieth century an d not in the

thirteenth ; and th at the prim a ry reason why the
world should a ccept his te a ching is not bec a use it is
,
—
true but bec a use it is u p to date it belongs to ou r
- -
times .
N ow turn back the p ages of history to a Gre at

Prophet W hose message has been more su cc essful
th a n that O f any te a cher who ever lived We dis .
cover th a t Hi s method was j ust the opposite He .

58 TH E E T E RNAL GALILEAN
“
to sow his seed and pointin g His finger said : Be
,
”
hold the sowe r went forth to sow ; and as His disci .
ples w atched the man they heard the parable of the

sower and his seed He sees the Fishermen gather
.
ing in their nets and calls them to be Fishers of

“ ”
Men He sees a man whose name is R oc k and
.
,
makes h im the rock upon whi ch He builds His

C hurch .
He spoke of everyd ay j oys an d sorrows : of the

salt on the table ; of the v ill a ge perched on the hill ;
l
of the candlestick on the w indow sill ; of their S heep
and th eir goat s ; their camels and the eyes of needles ;
v
their daily bickerings before the local j udge and
their co a rse l angu age which He o erheard on the
street ; the hot sun beating down on them ; the light
,
ning fla sh from east to west ; the ditch over there

betwe en thefield s; thorns a nd thistle s the sheep and
wolves which they knew only too well ; the reeds
S haken by the wind and burning weeds ; egg s and ser
,
pents ; nets and fi sh ; pe a rls and pieces of money;

corn and oil ; st ewa rds and gardner s ; kin gs and
shepherds ; the r a ven hovering above them ; the daily
wages hidden at home in money -bags ; the cottage

near the l a ke built on sand which had fallen to r uin s ,
and the one built on rocks which survived the flood ;

courtiers in soft clothing brides in nupti al robe s and
, ,
the stones on the hillside s with snakes and S corpions

beneath them .
A nd who sh all ever forget the d ay that He stood

on the plain when His eye w a s fir st caught by the
,
‘
fl ight of a bird overhead and then by a lily at H is

,
feet which He took in His hand w ith the remark th at

,
it works though it labors no t neither doe s it spin

m
.
,
Suddenly He elevates the minds of Hi s he arers fro

tha t impotent flower to their national heroes and
THE E T ERNAL GALILEAN 59
“
the fl amboyant colors of their pal a ces : N ot even
”
Solomon in all his glory w as ar r ayed a s one of thes e ;
and then finally by a third thought Shrivels it to
, ,
nothing with a ge sture of one who might fling i t

“
away : A nd if the grass Of the field which is to
‘
day and tomorrow is c a st into the oven God doth

, ,
so c l othe : how m uch more you ; 0 ye of littl e fai t h ?

”
I t w as like building a great tower by magic and th en

suddenly crumbling it into dust when it h a d made
us loo k up into the sky There w a s nothing smart .
or S ophisticated about it ; it w a s a thing so simple
that no worldly minded person would e er think O f

-
v ~
it if he wished to impress us with his wisdom .
S mart men say sm art things to convince of their

smartness I t rem a ined for a God to say S i mple
.
things to conv in ce u s of H is W isdo m .
The second difference between the modern

teacher and O ur L ord is th a t the forme r believes
that the message should be liberal broad and free , ,
from re straint an d m ortifi cation O ur Bles sed L ord .
said i t should not be liberal But in opposing a liber

v
.
al do c tri ne H e was not narrow ; H e w as not re olu
tionary ; He was not m aking an innovatio n R ather .
He w as renovating H is doctrine was transform i ng

. .
He begins a reca st r a ce of A d am Soc r ates reform .
ed th e mind Moses the law an d other s altered

, ‘
,
codes sy stems and religions ; but our L ord did not

, ,
a lter a part of man but the whole m a n fro m top to

,
bottom the inner men which is the motive power of

,
a ll his works and deeds He therefore makes no .
compromises or concessions He has a re al con .
t empt of that broad mindedness whi c h is synonymo u s

with indifference He tell s u s that if we do n ot b e
.
lieve we Shall be condemned and that if we despise

, ,
H is ambassadors we despise H im Unprofitable ser

, .
va nts ar e to be c a st into utter d arkness where there
“ ”
shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth S odom
.
and Gomorrah shall b e more t olerated on

the Day Of Judgmen t than the c ity whi c h rej e cts
the A postles . Caph arnau m which w a s ex alted to
the heavens shall be thrust into hell A dd to all this
.
Hi s att a cks on the Ph arisees which sugge st anything

,
but a gentle liber al bro a d m inded enthusia st too

, ,
-
,
“
mild even to criticize his bittere st opponents : Ye
'
foolish you blind guides whitened sepu l

chres you serpents gener ation of vipers how
, ,
”
will you flee from the j udgment of hell .
N either are there any i nanities about loyalty

He never once used the word co oper ation There - .
“
were no broad inoffensive st atements like L e a ve
”
life better than you find it ; or truisms su ch as the
“ ” “ ” “
Joy O f Service , th e Gospel of Work or a Good ,
”
D eed a Day .R ather He s a id th at if the festival of
happiness is eve r to be celebr ated aga in we must ,
be the O pposite Of wh at we a re ; we mu st conquer ou r

a nimal in stinct s in ste a d of sati sfying them plu ck ,
out ou r eye r ather than let it sc andalize us cut off ,
ou r h a nd rather than let it dr a g us into hell refuse ,
to answer fight with flight which is fear but Show

, ,
the enemy the other cheek and m ake a friend of

him ; we must not t ake thought of tomorrow for
su fl‘
ic ie nt unto the d ay is the evil thereof we m ust
not exalt but humble our selves ; we must rej oice
when we ar e p ersecute d an d bless when we ar e r e
viled ; seek the lowest place at t able ; rej oice in the
hatred of men ; beco me simple like children ; and
?
above all t a ke up a d a ily cross A nd why
. Because
man w a s not born to wriggle in a worm h e a p e a ting
h is ap rticle of e a rth as if he h a d only a st o mach a n d

tw o h a n ds ; he must remember he h a s a heart and
s oul the s alvati on O f which is more import ant th an

,
the gaining of the whole world— F or wh at S h all it

“
profit a m an if he gain the whole world an d suffer

, ,
”
the los s O f his soul .
This ide al w a s new NO one before eve r said it .

,
beca use no one before ever c ame to tr a n sform the

O ld A d am which is n ature
, by cre ating a new na ,
ture a super n ature m a de to t h e im age an d like

, ,
-
,
ness of God E very one el se who ever lived told u s

.
how to reform the world ; Our L ord told us h ow to

reform our selves I n a word the world can be made
.
better only by m aking our selves better E very one .
else told u s how to m a ke the ro a d smoother Our .
L ord told us to turn str a ight around an d t ake a new

ro a d to r enou nce w hat seemed good pick up wh at
,
’
ha d been thrown a w ay wor ship that which w a s

‘
burned le arn that which seemed foolish crucify not

, ,
our en emie s but our lower selves purge our he arts , ,
h ate h atred love executioners tr ansfor m our souls

, , ,
“ ”
an d a nswer the strong N o O f Chri st to the foolish
“ ”
Y es of the world .
B ec a use it w a s a tr ansforming d octrine it could ,
be expre ssed only in p ar a doxes E verything h u .
m anity in its b a ser vision held dear he set at n a ught ; ,
those things it sought He condemned ; th at which is

put first He put l ast ; th at which is called de ath He
ca lled life How expre ss this turning upside down
.
O f hum an n ature except in a p a r a dox in which what
is true for ti me is false for eternity and what is ,
good for the b ody i s bad for the soul and what is ,
wi sdom for the world is we a kness with God ? A nd

S O there runs through this Pre a cher the tremendous
p ar a doxes ab out the fir st being l a st and the l a st ,
first ; th at the humble S h all be ex alted and the ex

alted humbled ; th at by sa m g our life we lose it v '
,
and by losing our life we save it ; that the scorned
Shall be reverenced and the reverenced scorned ; that
,
the ma ster Sh all b e as the serva nt an d the servant

as the mast er ; that t ears S hall be t u rned int o j oy ,
and those w h o l a ugh sh a ll mourn ; and a bove all that
the harlots and publica n s will enter the Kingd om of

Heaven before the Scribes and the Pharisees These .
a r a doxes constitu te the only l angu a ge in which

p
God can talk to m an the Sinless to sinners and the
, ,
E ternal to the temporal M an can talk to man in

.
si m ple langu age without par a doxes ; but when a

G od c omes to this earth a s man to set at naught ,
ou r cheap liber a l m orality to create new va lues to

, ,
tr ansfor m hearts by m aking them see h ow foolish

the ways of men are to God then He must speak on ,
the tw o levels O f time and eternity which is the

l angu age of par a dox .
Finally modern prophets it w as s aid would

, , ,
rather be u fi to d ate than right rather be wrong

- -
,
than behind the times O u r B lessed L ord upset this

.
spirit by dwelling not on timely topics but ou eter ,

-
nal truths He taught in s u ch a manner as to d is

.
prove forever that His ide a s were suited to H is time ,
and therefore unsuit able to any other He never .
used a phrase that made His philosophy dependent

on the social order in which He lived ; He nev er
m a de H is m or a lity d ependent on the exi stence of

the R om an E mpire or even the existence Of the
,
“
world : He a ven and e a rth sh a ll p a ss aw ay but my ,
”
word Shall not p a ss aw ay He did not get H is ar
. .
g u m e nt a g a inst divor ce from the Mosaic L a w or ,
the R oman L aw or P a lestini an cu stom I t w as an

,
.
ideal outside time ; difficult in all time s ; impossible

at no time A nd be ca use He did not adapt Himse lf to
.
past tim es nor to p resent t i me nor to future t i mes

, , ,
TH E E T E R NAL GALI LEAN 63
He never fell into a platitude Platitude s ar e the .
herit age of the time but not the eternal For ex

,
.
ample there are no platitudes about w ar about its

, ,
wa ste about its h ate about its slaughter

, , What .
there is running thr ough His t ea chin g i s a l ittle

, ,
phra se which is a mighty phrase ; a phrase which

separ ates ti me from eternity ; a phrase which began
a new system of education : the S imple phrase ,

“ ”
But I say to you I n the Sermon on the Mount
.
,
“
He begins every example with the words : ye
have heard it said and then He purifies
the S O called timely the pl atitudinous with an
-
, ,
“
eternal comm and : B ut I say to you I t re .
“
curs like an antiphon in his preaching Y ou have .
heard that it w a s said to them of O ld : Thou shalt not

kill. B ut I say to you that f who soever ,
”
Shall say Thou fool S h all be in d anger of hell fire
‘
.
, ,
“
You have heard that it w as said to them of old :
Thou shalt not commit adultery B ut I say to you .
,
that whosoever S hall look on a wom an to lust after

her hath already committed adult ery with her in
,
” “
his heart You ha ve hea rd that it hath been said :
.
A n eye for an eye and a tooth f or a tooth B ut I

, .
say to you not to resi st evil : but if on e strike thee

”
on thy right cheek turn to him also the other
,
It .
was better a ccording to His logi c that the face

shoul d suffer rather than the s oul A nd enlarging
, .
the doctrine Of charity He ga ve a new law i n which

“
h ate is transformed into love : You have heard that
it hath been said : Thou shalt love thy neighbor ,
and ha te thy enemy But I say to yo u : L ove your

.
enemies : Do good to them that h ate you : and pray

”
for them th at per secute and c a lumni ate you There .
is only one w ay of driving enemie s from the earth ,
and that is by loving them .

64 TH E E T ERNAL GALILEA N
There is nothing in a ny one of these statements
which suited His times or suited a ny other times .
.
A nd the reason He w a s never concerned about being

u p to date w a s bec a u se He is beyond date
- -
in the ,
sense th at He is out side of time E veryone else who .
ever lived c ame from a cert a in people and bore the ,
imprin t Of his hour How else c ould legislators .
govern unless their l a w s suited their time s ? How

else could poets an d philosopher s write unless they
had their finger on the pul se Of their civiliz ation ? I n
the rhythm of their poetry is the cry of their epoch ;
in the d r eams of their philosophy is the aspir ati on
of their century N a me the gre at ones of the e arth :
.
Homer Job A esch u ylu s I s a i a s Socr ates Phidi as

, , , , , ,
S ophocles Plato Virgil T a citus D ante Michel au

, , , , ,
gelo Shakespeare Milton Corneille Bossuet Wa sh

, , , , ,
ington L incoln Wh at are they but the incarn ation

, .
of Greece A rabi a Jude a R ome I taly Sp a in Fr ance

, , , , , , ,
E ngl a nd and A meric a ,

? The gre ate r they are the ,
more i nc a rnate the genius Of the humanity in whose

hour they lived The great P elsagion is Homer the
.
,
great Greek is A esch u ylu s the gre at A rab is Job , ,
the gre at Hebrew is I s a ias the gre at R om an is ,
T a citu s the gre at I t a li an is Dante the gre at French

, ,
man is B o ssuet the great E ngli shm a n is Sh akespea re

, ,
the gre at A merica n is Wa shington B ut Who i s O ur .
B less ed L ord ? He is neither Greek nor R om an ,
Jew nor Gent ile ancient nor modern He is a Man , .
outside of time ; th e M an ; the God M an I n others -

.
yo u never find humanity in all its entirety you touch ,
—
only the hem O f the g a rment ; but in Chri st you
touch all humanity This univer sa lity of Our L ord . ,
this overflowing the limits of time an d S p a ce thi s ,
peculi a r property O f belonging to all times because

—
He belongs to no time when ce does it come ?
66 THE E T E R NAL GALILEAN
TH E KI N G OF H E A RT S
A dd ress del i v r ed on Feb ru ary 4 19 3 4
e , .
E very ma n is passion ately fond of liberty but ,
there is one thing he craves even more and witho ut

which existen c e and even l iberty is painful—and
,
that is happiness I t is one of the greates t of lifes

.
’
p aradoxes that as much as ma n seeks to b e free he .

,
still wishes to be a sl ave N ot a slave in the sense

.
,
that his liberty i s denied him but in the sense that ,
he yearns f or something he can worship something ,
which will solicit his will pull at his heart strings

.
, ,
temp t his energies and comm and his affections He

, .
wants to be free to choose between the va riou s kinds

of happiness but he does not want to b e free from
,
happiness H e wishes to be its sl a ve

. .
There are tw o w ays of responding to this soul

hunger and this heart thirst One is the w ay of the .
world the other is the way of Christ The differen c e

, .
between the tw o is that before we h ave the pleasures

O f the world they seem desirable and all th at we need
to make u s happy B ut after we have them they

. ,
are disappoin ting and sometimes even disgu sting .
The c ontrary i s true of the pleasures of Christ Be .
fore we have them they are h ard unattractive and , ,
even repulsive B ut after we have them they are

.
satisfying and all ou r hea rt could ever crave

, .
The problem then is this : Will the heart seek

its happines s in the ple a sure s O f the world or will ,
it seek it in the Kingship of Christ ? I w ould

plead for the Kingship of Christ by showing i n the ,
l anguage of Thompson fir stly how the pleasures

, ,
of t he w orld fail and se c ondly h ow the Kingship of

, ,
Christ pleases .
Wh at kind of h a ppiness is Offered by the world ?

Wh at solution does it give to the problem of j oy ? .
H a ppine ss s ays the world

, , i s to be found in the
pursuit Of thr ee thin gs : H umanism S ex and , ,
S c ien ce
The first panace a is Humanism or the su fficiency
of m an w
,
ithout God Man finds satisfaction in his

.
ow n mind without th e a id of f a ith and in his ow n ,
will without the a id vof grace There is no need .

,
a ccording to this philosophy to seek a God outside ,
of man but only the man inside of himself with

, ,
his thoughts and imaginings A nd the Humani st in .

,
the language of Thompson s ays the escape fr om ,
God is in the j oys O f one s own mind in psychology

’
, ,
in human emotions in sentiments in natural mys

, ,
ticism :
“
I ig
fl ed H im , d own th e n h ts and d own th e d a ys ;
I fled Him , d own th e a he s of th e e a s ; rc y r
I fle d H im , d own th e l ab nth n e wa s yri i '
y
Of i i r
my Own m n d : and in th e m d st of te a s
I i fr u r ru i g ug r
h d om H im , and nde l a h te
v
nn n .
p p
U p i sta ed h o e s I s ed ;
pr cip i
A nd sh ot, e ta ted ,
Ad w o n Titantic gl oom s of ch asmed f r ea s,
Fr om th se stron g f ee t th at f oll owed foll owed after 1
o ”
, .
S pirit cl a mors for its food more unhesitatingly than

the sto mach A nd as there floats over h is soul the
.
truth that perh aps there i s a God outside of and be

‘
yond man g he hears the beat of the Feet of God

.
Who m he w as to l d he woul d ne ver need :

1. Th e Ho un d of He aven b y F ranc i s Th om p son
, .
8 TH E E T E RNAL G ALILEAN
“
with unhurryi ng ch a se
Bu t ,
A nd unpertu rb ed p a ce ,
Del ibe ra te sp eed m aje sti c instan cy

The y be at—and a V oi c e be at
, ,
M or e in stant th an th e Feet
All th ings b e tray th ee wh o b etraye st
‘
,
Driven fro m self the modern man next flies to ,
the Freudian philosophy of Sex opening the littl e ,
ea sem ents of the heart so n a rrow and tiny which , ,
contra st with the gre at wide portals through which

Love enters I nfluenced by the economic order in
.
which he lives he begins to j udge love lik e gold and ,
hence the more tempestuous and violent it is the ,
more r eal it is He feels the need O f religion and

.
,
S ince he would starve his soul he m a kes a religion ,
out of the in stincts which he h as in common with

the beasts of the field Pleading outlaw wise a s one .
-
,
cut Off from all hum a n symp athy he drink s of sex , ,
which makes hungrywhe r e most it sa tisfies Some .
how deep down in his heart he knows tha t God is ,
pursuing and will ent er if He can ; but his weak soul

is afraid that if he admi t s the spirit he will ha ve
no room left for the flesh A h ! S O forgetful that if .
he ha s the Flame he can forget the sp a rk .
I p le a ded outl a w wi se
“
,
-
,
B y m any a he ar ted c a se m ent curt a in ed r ed , ,
Tr ell i se d wi th i nte rtwinin g ch ari ti e s :

(For though I knew H is love Who followed
, ,
Ye t w a s I sore a dr e a d
L e st h aving H im I m u st h a ve naught be si de )
, ,
.
B u t i f one l i ttle c a s e m e nt p a rted w i de

, ,
The gu st of H is a pp r oa ch would cl a sh it to ” 3
.
Fe ar wi st not to e va de a s Lov e wi st to pur su e , ,

.
Finally the modern man finding that Humanism ,
and S ex both fa il to s atisfy seeks h is happiness in ,
Science a s he becomes enthralled by the glory of the

,
2. I b id .
3. Ibi d .
midnight su n the soft beauty of the moon the splen

, ,
dor of a thous and st ars Since earth f a ils he will .

,
pl ay truant to earth Slip through the gate of f ancy

,
into the v ery meadows of the S ki es The b ea uties of .
the pl anets dazzle him a s he runs wild over the field s

of ether Science it seems is the only thing which
.
, ,
will answer his call to h appine ss and be more th an

an echo dying on the winds More than th at it will .
explain the universe without God A nd so he cries : .
“
A cr oss th e m a rg
ent of th e wo ld r I fl ed ,
r u
A nd t o bled th e old a tew a g g y s of th e st a r s,
ii g
S m t n for s el te on t e h r h ir c g
l an ed b a s; r
i d to D awn Be su dden—to Ev
/
I sa : e : Be s oon ;
With th y young ski e y bl ossom s heap m ove r e
F r om th i s tr e m end ou s Love r .
I O
Dr ew th eb olt of N atu r e s se cr e ci e s ’
I knew a ll th e swift i m p ortings

.
On th e w il fu l fa c e O f sk i e s ;
I was he avy wi th th e even

Wh en sh e lit h er gl imm ering tap ers
,
R oun d th e d a y s de a d san cti tie s

’
I l aughed in th e m orning s e ye s
.
’
.
I tr iu mp he d a nd I sadd ened w ith all we ath er

He a ven and I we p t tog e the r
,
A nd its sweet te a r s wer e sa lt wi th m orta l m ine ;

,
A ga inst th e r ed thr ob of its sun set he art -
I l a i d my O wn to be at
A nd sh a r e c omm in g l i ng he at ” 4
,
B ut science fa il s too for it is something more ,
than a knowledge of m atte r the soul craves There .
ern man after wandering over the universe with a

,
telescope in his hand returns with bleeding feet and

,
4. Ib id .
aching heart The world h as lied again ! What i t
.
c alled a successful road to happine ss was a failure .
A nd so there wells u p from his heart the sad and

painful truth that j oy is not in nature :
“
In v in
a my te a r s
we r e w et on He a ven s gr ey cheek ’
.
F or a h ! w e kn ow n ot wh at e a ch oth e r say s ,
Th ese th in g s and I ; in sound I sp e ak

Th e ir sound is bu t th e i r stir th ey sp e ak b y silence , .
N atur e p oor ste p da m e c annot sl ake my dr outh ;

, ,
N ev er d i d any m i lk of her s on c e ble ss

M y th ir stin g m outh .
L t em p ted all H is se i to s, bu t to fi nd rv r
y
M ow n bet a al in the r y
onstan , ir c cy
f i
I n a th to Him the fi cklen ess to m e ir .
r r i r u ru
The i t a to o s t en e ss, and the i l o al de e it r y c .
T o a ll s wi f i g
t th n s for sw tn e ss d d I su e : if i
Clii ng to th e wh stl n m an e of e e i i g
wind v ry .
lgu t
r i
Fe a w st not to e ade a s Lo e wi st to p u su e v v r .
i i
S t ll w th u nliu rr yin g h a se , c
;
c
A nd u np e t b ed p a e , r ur
Del ib erate sp eed m aje sti c instan cy, ,
C am e on th e foll owing Feet

V oi c e b vth e i be t
,
A nd a a o e r a
Na ug ht sh elte rs th ee w h o w i lt not sh elter

‘
,
A nd this story is r e lived in a thousand times -
ten thousand lives The soul craves happiness The

. .
world says : I have the s u ccessful secret I t is H u .
manism it is S ex it is Science And yet all these

, , .
fail ! Humanism is too inhum a n ; sex is too remorse

ful ; science is too cold .
Where then find h a pp ine ss ? Where find that one

thing whose sl a ve we love to be and y et be free ? , ,
Who is it Who calls to u s after each of ou r failures :

“
A ll things betray thee w ho betrayest Me Lo , ,
”?
naught contents thee w h o contents not Me Where
5 . Ib i d .
TH E E TE RNAL GALILEAN 71
seek that h a unting voice which Seems to call to u s

from every burning bush of the foibles of e arth ?
May it not be th at since the world doe s not give
happiness we must seek it in something un w orldly ?
,
M ay it not be that since wh at the w orld called suc

cess fa iled we must seek the successful in what
,
the world calls failure ? B ut there is only one thing

in all the world which is unworldly enough to be di
vine ; and only one thing which was enough of a
failure in the eyes Of the world to be a succes s with "
God Th at is the Person Wh o brought to this old

.
“
earth Of ours a L ove whi c h cr i es out : Com e to me ,
all you that labour and a re burdened and I will

, ,
”
refresh you A nd that is Christ the King
. .
Bu t did He ever call Himself a K ing R ecall that

?
terrible day which we ca ll Good Friday to ma sk its ,
heinousne ss and to declare our f elix cu lpa O ur .
L ord is led before the R oman Procur ator in the name

of Tiberius C a esar
’
To have some idea Of Pilate s
.
personality and hi s vision of the world worldly ,
make a mental pict u re of him in terms of one of our

modern intelligentsia—a reader of Mencken Ber ,
trand R u ssel and Shaw wi th Swinburne and W ell s

, ,
of his bookshel v es one whose em oti onal life is

,
dictated by Havelock E llis and his ment al life by

Julian Huxl ey who says there is no such thing as
,
tr uth S tandin g between the pillars O f his j ud g

.
ment seat to uched so mewhat with the nobleness O f

,
the Divine Pri soner Pil ate ask s with pitying w on

,
“ ”
der : A rt tho u a King ? The v er y way he said it
w as meant to imply : A rt thou whom the w orld r e
v
,
cei es not wh o a rt a poor worn outc a st in this the
—
, , , ,
hou r of thy b itter need ar t thou a King ; art

thou p ale lonely friendless wasted man in poor
—
, , , ,
p easant garments and tied hands art thou a

72 THE E TE RN A L GA LILE AN
King ; art thou wh o fled when the c rowd attempted

to m ake thee a w orldl y king and wh o onl y la st ,
S abbath entered the palm strewn streets Of this Holy

—
-
City amids t pompous S pl endor ar t thou real l y a

King ? A nd there came from that be aten figure ,
risin g to its full stature expressing kingship in ,

“
every gesture despite ropes and chain s : Thou say
” “
es t it
. I am My kingdo m is not of this world I f
. .
my kingdo m were of this world my servants would ,
certainly strive that I should not b e delivered to the

”
Jews : bu t now my kingdom is not from h en ce . .
“
For this w a s I b orn and f or this c ame I into the
,
world ; that I should give testimony to the truth .
”
E very one that i s of the truth heareth my voice , .
A s Pil at e listened to this King of Truth , he felt

ri sing within the impulse for higher things B ut .
the thought of an u nworldly King w as too much for

him ; and as the firs t Pra gm at ist of Ch ri stian t imes
'
turning his b a ck he sneered the question O f the 2 0th

,
“ ”
century : What is truth ? A nd with those momen
tous words th e worldly rej ected the unworldly which ,
is G od And so Christ bec a me the only King in the

.
whole history of the worl d Who e ver s t u mb l ed to

.
’
His throne . The world w a s certa in th at no King

could be a success w h o w a s such a failure B ut such .
ar e the w a ys O f God M any time s during His public

.
life H e s a id that thos e who loved Him would be

hated by the world ; that He would draw men to
Himself by being lifted up on a cro ss in seeming de
fe at ; and that the gre atest love man can Show is
to lay down his life for his sheep N ow the solemn .
h our had struck F or a c rown He wore a wreath of

’
thorns for a scep tre an iron nail ; for a throne a

, , ,
c ross ; for royal purple His Own Blood ; for His

,
“
army those who shouted : I f he be the kin g of
,
4 TH E E T E RNAL GALILE A N
at the portals Of ou r ow n heart in this very day and
this very hour I t comes to the men of ou r day w ho
.
have tri ed to be hum a n without God and w ho found

"
that if they lived without God they were not men

, ,
but beasts ; it come s to the di si llusioned bodies w h o

ma d e a religion ou t Of sex and reminds them that
the soul as well as the body must have its j oys—its
.
“ ”
pas sionless passion a n d wild tranquilitie s : J esu
v olu p ta s cord iu m
'
I t comes to those whose religion

.
is science and makes them shift uneasily as they try

,
to explain law without a L awm a ker and order with

—
out Mind which i s God .
B ut it is one thing to recognize the insufficiency

of the world and quite another thing to acknowledge
,
th at the King of hearts and wills and nations i s One

Who brings a cross and the dull h ard lesson of mor
tifi cation F a ce to fa ce with One Whose Kingd om is
‘
within the entr a nc e to which can be gained only by

,
ca rrying a cross like the King with the Cross ther e ,
is a dreadful fear le st h aving Him we c an have

nothing else Can it be th at Hi s L ove i s like a bitter
.
“
weed which su ffers no flower except its ow n to
”?
m ount Can we be courtiers in the service of a
Ki ng Who wears purp l e robes and is cypress c row n
? “
ed Must all His h a rvest field of love be dunged
”?
with rotten death Must the ch arcoa l of ou r live s
pass through fire before He can tra ce H is p ortr ait
on ou r so ul ? Must the su n spend itself to light a
world and the glory of the cloud die in passing
,
showers before they can spring forth fruit or fl ow

?
ers Must the seed die before it can bud forth life ,
and must the C ros s be the condition of the crown ;
a nd the three hours

’
crucifixion with the Kin g he
the prelude to an eternal glory wi th H im in Heaven ?

A s we turn these questions over in ou r mind s ,
TH E E TE RNAL GALILEAN
there co m es to us the Voice of the King like the
b ur sting sea :
“
Lo !
‘
h i n g
all
s fl y t htee f or t h ou fl ie st, Me !
S tr ng e p i te ou s fu ti le th ing !
a
Whe r efore should ny t thee l ove p r
, ,
t ? a a
a se
S ee i ng n o ne bu t I m a ke s m uc h of n a ug h t ( He s aid)
’
,
A nd h u m n l ov e need h u m n m eri t n g
‘
a s a i :
p h ast th ou m erited
O f all m an s c l otted cl y th e d ingi e st cl t
’
a o ?
Al a ck th ou kn owe st not
,
H ow l i ttle w orth y of ny l ov e th ou a t !
,
a r
Wh om w i lt th ou fi nd to l ov e i gn oble th ee ,
S v e Me sav e on ly
a ,
6
The human he art now begins to see the light

—
.
H e is not j u st a king who failed H e is a King Who

fa iled in the eyes of the world to win etern al vic
.
,
tory in the eyes of God Hence if we are to reign .
with Him in he aven we must begin our reign with

Him on earth as He began H is namely on a Cross
, , ,
.
—
I t is the u nworldly thing to do yes The world first .
fea sts and then h a s its f a st ; it glut s itself and then

,
lo athes its excesses ; it l a ughs and then weeps B ut .
the King of the Cross reverses the order : the poor

shall not always be poor ; the crucified shall not b e
alway s on a cr os s ; the poor sh a ll be rich ; the lowly
shall be ex a lted ; those w h o sow in tears shall re ap in
j oy ; those w h o mourn Sh all be comforted ; and those
wh o suffer with Chri st shall reign with Him The .
solut i on is clear : what we c al l pain sorrow and , ,

“
crucifixion is but the sh a de of His H and out
,
”
stretched caressingly At last the soul is conquered .
by the B e a uty Of the King so l ately known so latel y ,
loved as that Divine King whi sper s gently the se

,
c ret of H is seemingly hard w ay with us :
All wh i c h I took fr om thee I

‘ -
did bu t take .
N ot f or thy h a rm s,
6. Ibi d .
76 TH E E T ERNAL G ALILEAN
But j u st th a t th ou m i gh t st seek it in My arms
’
.
A ll wh i ch th y ch i ld s m i stake
’
Fanc i e s a s l ost I h av e stor e d for th ee at h ome :

,
Rise clasp M y hand and

, ,
7 I b id .
G OD S B R ID GE B U ILD E R
’
A ddr e ss del i ver ed on Feb r u ary 1 1 1 93 4

,
I f the modern mind were asked wh at thing in all

the world it would like most to discover it would ,
prob ably an swer : the missing link E very now and

.
—
then we he ar of its di scovery but it is only a rumor ;
for the m ost ann oying fe ature of the mi ssing link is
that it is missing .
There is nothing wrong in seeking the mi ssing

link but it does seem to be a r ather ab surd empha
,
sis O n the wrong thing Why should we b e so con

.
cerned about the link which binds u s to the bea st ,
and so little c oncerned about the link which binds us

to God ? Wh y should the deep secrets O f man s ’
being be sought in the slime of the earth rather than

v
,
in the r arefied atmosphere O f the Kingdom of H ea

en ? E ven though the link were found it would only
,
tell us the source of that lower part Of our n ature ,
which we have in common with be a sts ; but it would

!tell us nothing about the higher part which we ha v e
in common with God A thing i s to be j udged not
.
by that which i s lowe st in its m a keup but by that ,
which is highest and noblest A nd so I plead not

.
for the quest of the link imprisoned in the dust

“
which binds us to an animal but for the link sus

,
pended from heaven which bind s us unto God .
A link or bond there must be between God and

man Man is sinful God is holy ; and there i s noth
.
,
ing common between the two Man i s finite God is

.
,
infinite ; and there is nothing common between the

two Man is human and God is Divine ; and there
.
,
is nothing common between the tw o . By my ow n

power I am not able to touch the ceiling of this stu
dio but the link of a ladder would effect a union be
, .
tween the two I n like manner if there was ever to
.
be a real communion between heaven and earth ,
between God and man there wo u ld have to be a link

,
between the tw o Those wh o seek the missing link

.
between the m an and the anim al say that link must

have something common to both I n like manner .
,
we wh o seek the link between God and ma n say that ,
the link b etween God and man must be both human

and divine .
A nd where seek that link ? I n a cave ? Yes !

The world is right i n seeking the C a ve Man but it ,
is seeking him in the wr ong C ave I f we are to find

.
the pr ot otyp e of man we must seek it not in the c a v e

of Moulin , but in the C a ve of Bethlehem and the ,
name of that Cave Man is not Pithecanthropu s but

Christ ; and the light S hining in his eyes is not the
light of a beast coming to the dawn of reason but ,
the light Of a God coming to the darkness of men ;

‘
and the animals in the c a ve are not wil d be a st s

shrieking at one who ca m e fr om th em but the ox ,
and the ass bowing down to one wh o c ame to them ;

and the c ompanions in the C a ve are not wild crea
tures with lifted clubs as a S ign of war but Joseph ,
and Mary with folded hands as a symbol of peace .
I n a word Christ i s the link between the finite and

the infinite between God and man because finit e in
, ,
H is hum an na ture and infinite in His Divine and ,
one in the unity of H is Person ; missing because men ,
—
have lost Him ; Pontiff because the Bridge B uild er -
for such is the meaning Of Ponti ff—between earth

,
and Heaven ; Mediator because the High A mbassa

,
dor Of God amongst men A nd all these name s are

.
only other ways of saying that which we forget :

that which above all things else w a s the life of
—
Christ namely the life of a Priest .
TH E E TERNAL G ALILE AN 79
Priest ? A Prie st is an intermedi ary

nk between God and m an His mi ssion is to do
.
.
things to bring God to m an by the infu sion of

,
ne L ife and secondly to bring man to G od by

’
, ,
an from sin This Our L ord declared

.
w a sthe double purpose of Hi s coming to thi s world :

“
I a m come that they may h a ve life and m ay h a e ,
v
it more abund antly ; and The S on of man is not
” “
,
come to be ministered unto but to minister and to , ,
”
gi v e h is l ife a redemp t i on for man y .
The first purpose of the Prie sthood of :Chri st is

, v
to bring God to man D i m e L ife to human life We .
have no right to say there is no higher life tha n

ours any more than the worm has a right to say
,
there is no higher life th an its life Man is never .
sati sfied with hi s mere earthly life L ike a gi ant .
impri soned bi r d h is wings beat une a sily a gainst the

,
gilded cage of sp a ce and time He ha s a lw ays .
sought to be more than he is : that is why he ha s

ideals ; that is why he has hop es ; that is why the
R oman emperors called themselve s gods ; th at is why
man when he forgets the true God adores himself
, ,
a s god . B ut man can never acquire that higher life

by his ow n power any more th an he can change a
,
stone into a serpen t I f he is to be possessed of a

.
higher life it must be given to him from above I f .
the a nim al is to live the higher li fe of the man it

mu st surrender its lower existence and be reborn
in man w h o comes down to it to take it up a s f ood
, .
And if man is to l ive the higher life of God he mu st ,
die to his lower life of the flesh and be reborn to the

higher life O f the Spirit Wh o comes down to h im ,
with that Divine L ife Thi s i s the messa ge O ur

.
L ord gave the carnal minded N icodemus w h o hear

-
“
ing it said : H ow c an a man be born when he is Old
’
Can he enter a second time into his mother s womb
'
? ”
and be born again The S a viour replied that He
mea nt not the fl esh ly birth but that spiritu al regen
,
cr ation of w a ter through which man w a s reborn as
a child Of God .
This w a s the purpose Of —

the life of Christ to
bring the L ife Of God to man Thi s Divine L ife is S O.
different from hum a n life that no m an could ever

,
live it unless the He a venly F ather bestowed it ; it

w a s so priceles s th at if the wom a n at the well knew
of it Sh e would ha ve forgotten the water at Jacob s
,
’
well and have a sked for the living waters Of ever

l a sting life ; it w a s a life which God wished so much
to give m an th at at the very beginning of Hi s Public
,
“
L ife it drew from H im the sweet compl a int : And
you will not c om e to me th at you may have life .
I am come in th e n a me of my Father and you re

v
u
,
cei e me no
The second funct i on of the priestly life Of Chri st

con sisted not only in linking the life of God to man ,
but also in reconciling man to God by redeem i ng

him fro m sin Many of th e emasculated L ives of
.
Chri st today picture Him merely as a moral reform

er a teacher of hum anitarian ethics or a sentimental
‘
, ,
lover O f birds and be a sts O ur L ord is prim a rily

.
none of these things He is first and foremost a

'
R edeemer I n that He breaks with all reformers

.
and preachers w h o ever lived Take any of them : .
B uddha Plato C onfucius Socrates La otse—why

, , , ,
did they come into the wo rld ? E ach and every one
O f them came into thi s world to live B ut why did .
O ur L ord come into this world H e ca m e into the

?
w or ld to die It was the supre me business which

.
en gaged H im from the day of His B irth :

“
Th e S on
vary by Hi s circumcision at eight days of a ge At .
the beginning of His Public Ministry H is Presence

inspired John to cry out to his disciples at the J or
”
d an : B eho l d the L amb O f God
l“
He answered to .
the confession of His Divinity by Peter at Caesare a

'
“
Phillipi th at He mu st su ffer m any th ings and be , ,
rej ected by the an c ients by the high priests and

, ,
s cribes and b e killed : and after three days r i se

,
”
again ; the leaden -weighted days caused H im to cry
“
out in beautiful impatience : I have a bapt is m
wherewith I am to be baptiz ed : and how am I
st raiten ed until it b e acco mplished To the
‘
member of the Sanhedrin wh o w ould seek a sign He

foretold H is death on the Cross H e answered .
:
“
A nd as Moses lifted up the Serp ent in the
deser t S O must the S on O f man be lifted up : That
,
wh os oever believeth in him may not peri sh ; ,

”
but may have life everlasting To the Pharisees
.
w ho were as sheep without a shepherd He S poke : ,

“
I am the go od shepherd The good shepherd
.
gi veth his life for his sheep A nd I lay down

.
my life for m y sheep NO man taketh

.
i t away fro m me : bu t I l ay i t down Of myself ,
and I have power to lay it down ; and I have power

to take it up a ga in This commandment ha ve I r e
v
.
”
cei ed of my Fa ther
’
A nd toall men of all times
.
w h o would forget th at He is com e a s Our R edeemer

and S a viour He spea ks the most tender wo r ds that
“
were ever caught up on this sinful e arth : For God
so lo v ed the world a s to give his only begotten S on ;
,
that whosoever believeth in h im may not perish , ,
but lm ay have life everl a sting F er God sent not

.
his S on int o the world to j udge the w orld but that

, ,
”
the w orld may be sa v ed b y him
'
B ut why d id death play such an i mportant role

did \de ath b r ing man to

u ght m an to GO d by blotting ou t
sin
“
Greater lo v e than this no man
.
”
ha th that a man lay down hi s life for h is friends
,
.
was a sinner He coul d no more restore him

.
into the favor of God than a man who o w es a

on can pay it with a cent or a soldier w h o is
,
wounded can bind up hi s own wounds Our .
L or d willed to pay the debt O f m an by suffering for

man, f or d eath Voluntarily undergone is the supreme
proof of love H ow could a s atisfa ction be made
. ,
sav e b y one whos e int rinsi c wor th might t ender

some w orthy offering fro m a b ou ndless lo ve to a
Perfect Ju stice ? How w a s a rea l reconcili ation b e
tween God and man possible un l ess th e r e c on c i l er
had the capa c ity for mediating unless he could
—
,
represent God to man no less truly than man t God

o ?
I n other words he had to be a p riest a link between

God and man bec a use true God and true M an B eing .
man He could freely suffe r and freely die b u t being

God H is sufferings would have an infinite value Sa c .
rifice from the beginning of time has been through

e
the sh dding ,
ofl blood for sin is in the bloo d O ur
,
.
Lord therefore as man re solved to pour it ou t even

, , ,
to the last drop to express at one and the same time

,
God s hatred O f S in and God s love of ma n Only the

’ ’
.
righteous can a dequ ately pay for i nj ustice ; only the

perfect can discount the crimes of the brute ; only
the rich can cancel the debts O f gre at debtors ; only a
God in H is I nfinite Goodness can expi ate the S ins
which man h a s committed aga in st Him They who .
w rought the crucifixion w er eo nly obeying the will of

the One they crucified N o groan e scapes H im no
.
,
expression of physical pain ; the want s of th e b ody

are forgotten in the wants of l o ve .
Why the darkened he avens ? Why the rent ve il
in the temple ? Why the shattered rock s ? Why do
the dead come from their graves and walk the city
?
of the living ? Why did the su n hide its face I f
N ature could have been gi ven a tongue sh e would
hav e answered th at her L ord was crucified But her
-
convulsive hom age before the cross of Christ is as

n othing when compare d to a moral miracle of which
the only sen sible symptoms ar e a promise of p ardon
to a r ep en tan t sinner at His right Not wh en Chr ist
.
raised the dead not when He rebuk ed the seas and

,
the w inds not when He shone in His gl o ry on Tha

,
bor bu t when He was c ru c ified pier c ed with nails

, , ,
insul ted Spi t upon reproa ched and re v iled had H e

, , , ,
strength to cha nge the he art Of a thief dr aw to H im

,
v
self a soul that once was harder than the r ocks and ,
“
in an e mbrace of l o epromise : This day thou shalt
”
b e w ith me in Paradis e Th at pr omise was the
.
re velat ion Of the depth and height of His R edemp

—
tive Power a fl a sh Of the E ternal L ightning of the
Godhead illumining the true meaning of H is
,
humiliation a s man .
A nd so Chri st is Priest The day the Holy Spirit

.
poured out the O intment of Divi nity on his human

nature in the sanctuary of the Virgin Womb was
the day of H is ordin ation ; H is tea ching in Galilee
a nd Judea w a s his S eminary—for w hat is a seminary
but a pl ac e where seed i s s own ? The surrender

O f His Will in const a nt O bedi ence to the Will of His
Father for the R edemption of the world w as the

Offertory ; the mount of C alvary where He p erfor m
ed the last and solemn act of H is priesthood was the ,
Cathedral O f that priesthood ; the cros s su spended

between he a ven and earth in reconciliation of both
, ,
was H is altar ; the crimson that poured ou t from the

p re c ious wardrobe of H is S ide was the roy al vest
,
‘
m ents of sa crifice ; the su n turning to red at the
horrors it sa w w as the s anctuary l amp ; the B ody
,
which He gave as Bre a d w as the host ; the blood

,
which He poured out like w ater w a s the p riceless

,
win e ; the separation of both by the crucifixion and

'
th e act of His W i ll w a s the consecration ; H is last

,
words commending H is soul unto the hands of the

heavenly F ather w a s the l i e M issa est A nd He
,
.
Who is upright like a Priest and yet prostrate as a

,
Victim is Our L ord and S a viour Je sus Christ

, .
Would that our civiliz ation would cea se turning

over the dust of the primeval j ungles in search O f
the link that ties us to the beast and begin to kneel
,
before the uplifted cros s on the rocks of C al var y in

se arch of th e link that binds us to God ; for if we
are m a de to the im a ge of beasts then w e can be
expected to act like be a sts but if we ar e made to the
,
—
image and likeness of God then it sh a ll be ou r glory
to act like other Christs— b r Christians .
DIVIN E INT IM A CIE S

Add r ess del iver ed on February 1 8 1 93 4 , .
At time s so m e people feel that Divine Love is

so ver y far aw a y while the love of creature s is S O
very close and re al A nd yet th is is not the truth ;

.
it i s the love O f God which is burning and the u n ,
steady d evotion of the love Of creatures which is

c old and bitter T o prove this we need only go into
.
the sanctuary Of our ow n heart and distil ou t of it ,
the intimacies of love and we will see how God h a s

,
sat isfied them far b eyond ou r wildes t dreams and

most ardent hopes I n other words God reveals
.
,
H is love in terms of the hum a n hea rt .
L ove en ters the human he art w th the establish

ing of a relatio n person with person B ut there .
are various degree s of relationship or var i ous kinds ,
of intimacy The first intimacy of love is speech

. .
We would never know a nyone loved us unless he

told us so Speech m ight be cal led the summation Of
.
a soul ; all that it h as been all that it is and all that

—
, ,
it will ever b w e need only to hear a person spe a k

'
e
“ ” “
and we can say : he is a proud man ; he is a hum
” “ ” “
ble man ; he is a cruel man ; he i s a char itable
”
man . E ven the written words of those who li ved
and spoke centuries ago reveal their cha racters ,
their passions their failings and their ideals One

, , .
need but open the book s of the ancient past and

there we see the he art O f a Socrates the he a rt of a ,
C aesar the heart O f a C icero reve aled in every wo rd

, ,
that dropped from their lips Speech then is the

.
first form of the int i maci es of lo v e .
Now if God reve a ls H m self to us i n ter ms of the

human heart then He should S how Hi s love for u s
,
T HE E TERNAL G ALILEAN 87
The
sp eech O f God is R evel ation O pen Sacred S cripture
.
o
at any page and you will find written down the voice
O f God spe aking to us with such mess ages of love
:
“
Yea I have loved thee with an everl a sting love ,
therefore have I drawn thee t aking pity on thee

”
,
“
I f your sins be as scarlet they shall be made ,
a s white as snow ; and if they be red as crimson they ,
shall be white a s w oo
A nd S O on throughout the page s of the revealed
word O f God But is th at all love can (16
.
? I S there
not yet another intim a cy of love b eyond speech ?
Does not the human he art cf a e for other commun v
ications be side the sense Of he aring ? Does it not
also want to see the one w h o spe aks the words O f
love ? Does it not w ant to see words bOrn on hum an
lips see the earnestness of a vis a ge th e flash of an
, ,
eye the sincerity of a he art wr itten on the openness

,
O f a f a ce ? Not long can love be s atisfied with word s

'
behind a veil or words in a book

, A s intim a cy .
grows love also dem a nds vi sion L ove w a nts to be .
present with the one loved Hence if God is to ex

.
haust all the intmacies of love and speak to us in ,
the langu age of the human heart He must not only ,
be heard He must al so be seen A nd God was seen

,
. .
That w a s the I nc a rnation of O ur L ord and Saviour

Je sus Chri st He Wh o dwelt in inaccessible light
.
was seen by Shepherds and Wise Men under the light

of a Star He Who made the univers e and its myr
.
iad of dancing suns and whirling planets was seen

fixing the fl at roofs of N az a rene homes ; He Who
lived in th ei nexh au stible riche s of the Kingdo m O f
Heaven was seen as a poor vil lage tr a desman in the
little town O f N azareth ; He Wh o is the v ery Word
O f Wisdom of the Godhead was seen in the compan
ionsh ip fishermen whose knowledge rose no high
of
er than the low country O f Galile an l a kes .
Men hea r d God say that He w as love N ow they .
saw L ove in action Men had heard God say H e would

.
forgi ve S ins ; now they saw H im confer th at powe r ‘
on H is A postles unto the end of time He was so .
often seen in attitudes of love and pardon that it

i s e m barrassing to choose a mong them One of the .
most t ouching c ert a inly is th at when He pa r doned

the woman taken in sin The Scribes and Pharisees
.
were surrounding a woman who was prostr ate on

the ground with a v eil d r awn about her to hide her
,
from the accusing fingers The wom an was an a dul

.
teress . The Scribes and Pharisees were her self

righteous j udges E a ch Of them held a stone in his
.
hand prepared to cast it at the poor defenseless .
creature O cc a sionally one of the m would reach

.
to the hand of h is neighbor take fro m it his stone

, ,
weigh both and then retur n the lighter stone that

, ,
he might cast the heavier one upon the woman Just .
a s they were about to execute j udgment they saw ,
ou r Ble ssed L ord a pproaching and resolved to catch ,
Him and ensnare Him in His speech E ither He .
had to condemn the wom an or He ha d to release ,
the woman I f He released her He would be

.
disobeying the law of Moses which was the law ,
of G od accor ding to which any wom an guilty of

,
a dultery w a s to be taken outside the city gates and
stoned . I f he condemned her He would not be ,
mer c iful and He said that He wa s merciful I n

, .
either case they thought ; He w as tr a ppe d

, .
B ut the dilemma Of Justice or P a rdon w a s no

great dilemma to Him Who solved it in the I n carna
tion O ur L ord dete sted adultery ; but He als o de
.
tes ted the hounding O f merciless hypocrites A nd .

L ove of God at work saying to penitent sinners of
,
that day and of our ow n : Y ou are black but I send ,
you to the su n ; you ar e unworthy to live but you ,
shall live to be worthy ; I despise your sin but I love ,
y ou the
, sinner ; I condemn you I forgive you ; I ,
bl a me your rotten p ast I wipe it ou t forever Go

, .
now and sin n o m ore Oh she might have wish ed

.
,
to have murmured a word O f th anks but a s she ,
looked upon the L ove of God visible to men she saw ,
Him with H is head lowered the silky wa ves Of His ,
hair S hining in the su n as H is finger traced in the

,
sands t he outline of a bleeding he art .
L ove wishes to he ar the speech Of the one loved ;

,
love also wishes to see the one l oved ; but is that all '
that love can do ? Does there yet rem a in even one

other intimacy by which love can betr ay and reve al
itself to the human he rt a ? There still rem a ins one
ot her inti macy o f love — an intimacy so pr ofound ,
S O delicate so personal so co m plete that the gre at

, ,
est insult anyone can Offer u s who kn ow s us not is

—
,
to m a ke use of i t an d that i s the intimacy of

touch A nyone m ay hear the one loved ; anyone
.
may see the one loved ; but only the intimates may
touch the one loved .
I f God is to exhaust all the intim a cies of love

‘
,
then He must not only speak to us He must not only ,
be seen by us but He must also touch and be touch

,
ed And He was touched The children were touched

. .
,
by the Hands that m ade them ; the w oman suffe ring

fro m an i ssue of blood touched the h em of the gar
ments of God Thoma s too touched H im as he put
.
fingers in han d and hand in side to be cured of h is

doubt B ut one O f the mo st sig nific ant O f these in
.
cid ents was that which t ook place in the home of
Simon the Pharisee .

Simon w as that type of man w h o w as fond of

lionizing strangers Not because he was a devout
.
follower of O ur Lord but because of the great fam e

,
O f the Gal ilean teacher he invited Our L ord to his ,
rich table Some little ceremonies such as the host

. , .
kissing his guest and anointing hi s hair were o mit ,
ted from the occasion Simon probably felt that .
S ince O ur L ord w as only a rustic R abbi not too fa ,
miliar with the best society there could b e some ,
deficits in etiquette .
The guests re clined at table according to a c ustom

recently introduced into Palestine from the E a st
ea ch leaning on his left elbow le aving the right ,
hand fr ee to eat at table A s the bronze d serv ants .
were bringing in the precious vi ands an untoward ,
incident happened Simon looked up t o the far cor

.
ner of the roo m and what he saw brought a blush

,
‘
to his cheek He would not have minded it if any

.
,
on e —
else had been there but the R abbi ! What
would He think O f it ? He was j ust ab out to order
the intrude r removed but a look fro m the Ma ster ,
deterred him .
The intruder was a woman Her n ame w as

“
Ma ry ; her city Magdala her reputation a sinner

, , .
She moved slowly through the silk purpl e curtain

which hung about her a s her luxuriant hair fell ,
across her eyes She did not attempt to brush it

.
away for it acted a s a screen against the gaz e of the

,
Pharisee . The room h a d now grown quite still .
Suddenly a sad little sound broke the quiet I t w as

, .
a sob . Th e woman w a s weeping Standing now .
over the Feet Of the D ivine S a viour sh e let fall upon ,
the s andaled harbingers of peace a few tears like

the first wa r m dr ops of a summer rain She tried .
to wipe them: away w ith her hair but the fountain ,

flowed on as if answering to the deepest misery of
,
life .
Then sh e remembered sh e h a d conce aled unde r

h er veil a vessel Of precious O intment pressed f rom
the best O f God s creation B ut wh at d id sh e do
’
.
with it ? She did not do what you and I would ha v e

done What would we do
.
? We would t a kethe es v
l of precious ointment pour it ou t S lowly d elib
s e , , ,
erately resolutel y drop by! i.
dr op a s if to indicat e by the very slown ess of
ou r giving the gen erosity O f our gift N ot so wi th .
Magdalene ! N ot S O with those who really lo v e !

She broke the vessel and gave everything for love ,
kn ows no limits She saw n othing an d felt noth

.
ing except an inexpres sible delight in which j oy

is pain and sorrow is j oy ; in which te a rs the com ’
,
mon f ount of j oy and sorrow unite in one mighty ,
e c static emotion .
A ll the while Simon was thinking the vile

thoughts of that endles s cemetery of whitened
sepulchres w h o are outside cle a n and inside full of
dead men s bones A nd so he muttered to himself :
’
.
“
This man if he were a prophet would know surely
, ,
what manner Of woman this is tha t toucheth

”
him that sh e is a sinner
, .
A nd O ur L ord reading his thoughts s a id to him :

“ ”
S im on I have somewh at to say to thee
, .
“ ”
Master say it ,
.
“
A c erta in creditor h ad two debt ors the one ow ed ,
fi ve hundred pence and the other fifty And where , .
a s they h a d not wherewith to pa y he forgave them ,

”
both Which therefore of the two loveth h im mo st ?
.
“ ”
I suppose th at he to who m he forgave most .
“
Thou hast j udged rightly Many sins are for .
given her because S h e h ath lo ved much

, .
“ ”
Beca us e Sh e hath loved much ! Mary seemed
to h a ve heard these words between sighs B ut she .
could not believe her e a r s D id He really speak

.
to her— she who summed up within herself for ty

centurie s of sin ; sh e the type O f woman who
gave aw ay her body without giving her soul ;
sh e wh o se a soned her j e sts with sins ; she
whom wom en envied and dete sted ; and whom men
de sired and defamed ? C ould it be that He was
kind ? She looked up at Him for some assuran c e
that S h e had he ard a right His eyes became illu m
.
ined like tw o alt a r fires ; his lips fine and keen wi th

feeling began to move Then came the silen c e that
.
“
always precede s the speech of Go d Thy S i ns
”
are forgiven thee GO in peace
The Shepherd w as happy—H e had found the l os t
.
sheep The lo st sheep w as h appy for in sounding

.
,
the depths of love she had touched the very feet of

,
God .
There is nothing more that love can do ; there is

no o ther tongue by which the heart may speak L ove .
has three and only three intimacies : speech vision , ,
a nd touch These three intim a cies God h as cho sen

.
p
to make H is love intelligible to our poor he arts God

has spoken : He told us that He l oves u S—that is
.
R evelation God has been seen—that is the I ncar

nation God h as to u ched us by His grac e —
.
. tha t is
R edemption Well indeed the r efore may He say :
.
What more could I do for my vineyard than I ha v e

done ? What other proof could I give of My love
than to exhaust Myself in the intimacies of lo v e ?
Wh at else c ould I do to S how that My Own Sa cred
Heart is not le ss generous than your own ?
I f we answer these questions aright then we ,
will begi n to repay love with love Then we will .

94 THE ET ERNAL GALILEAN
” “
not ,
“
ask How much must I do but H ow much
?
”?
ca n I do for love of Him Then we will retur n
S peech with speech which will be our prayer ; vision
with v ision which will be ou r fa ith ; touch with
,
touch which will be our communion And then one

, .
day when we th ink the chalice O f our poor hearts

has b een emptied of the la st drop of love for H im ,
H e shal l take u s to Heaven where they shall be

filled unto overflowing with the fountain of j oy and
where there shall be no speech but the song of
angels no vision but the L amb of God and no tou ch
, ,
“ ”
but the embrace of the p a ssionless passion and
wild tr anq u ility of the E verlasting L ove—whi ch
”
“
is God !
TH E D E P T HS O F SIMP L I CI TY
A ddr ess d el ive r ed on Feb r u ary 2 5 , 1 93 4 .
The world h a s on e supreme test for character ,
and th at i s the pos session Of a virtue i n a high and

eminent degree . M any generals for ex a mple in
, ,
ou r nation a l history a r e ranked as gre a t characters

because Of their val or scientists are ranked
,
as great ch ar acters bec a use of their wisdom .
Some are j udged noble bec a use of their love Of

pea ce others bec a use Of thei r bravery in w ar ; some
,
because of their m aj esty and others because of their

,
gentleness ; some bec a use of the i r W i sdom others ,
bec au se of their simplicity .
B ut this i s not the re al way to j udge character .
The possession of one virtue or a qu a lity in an emi

nent degree no more m a kes a great ma n than on e
’
wing makes a bird .Just as the e agle s power is
measured by the distance fro m the extremity of one
’
wing to the extremity Of the other so a man s ,
char a cter is to be j udged not by the po sse ssion of

,
one extreme virtue but by the exp anse between that

virtue and the O pposite one which complements it .
Christi an duty is nothing more nor les s than the

reconciling of opposite virtue s I t i s V ery easy to
.
cultivate single virtues ; j ust a s it is ea sy to walk

down a ro a d It ta kes much more skill to walk a
.
fence on either sid eof which there are dangerous

extremes to be a voided I n other words a really
.
,
great ch a r a cter is not j ust a br ave man for if a ,
man were br ave without being tender he might ,
very easily become cruel Tenderness is what might

.
‘
be c alled the Other wing to bravery I n like manner
’
.
,
maj esty alone does not make chara cter for maj esty ,
96 THE E TE R N AL GA LILEA N
without gentlenes s might ver y soon degener ate into

p ride . L o ve of pea c e alone does not m ake c harac
ter for without the O pposite virtue of courage
, ,
peacefulness could very easily slip into a spineless

cowardice Wisdom without simplicity makes a man
.
proud ; simplicity without wi sdom makes a man a

S impleton A real character therefore does not pos
.
sess a virtue on a gi ven point on the circumference

Without at the same time possessing the complemen
, ,
tary v irtue which is diametrically oppposed to it ;

for what i s character but the tension between op
,
posites, the equilibrium between extremes Thus .
St Pau l exhibits in his life the beautiful tension be

.
tween zeal and gentleness ; St John the t ension be .
tween overflowing love and uncompromi sing devo

tion to truth ; and Mose s the tension between fi rm
ness and meekn ess .
Just as every engine must have its flywheel ,
every springtime its harvest every ocean its ebb ,
and its tide so every really great character m u s t

,
have its pendulum so delic ately adj usted that it can

swing between the extr e mes of the magnanimous
and the humble the lofty and the plain without
, ,
ever once being detached Ch a racter then is the

.
balanced tension between O pposite v irtues .
I t i s in this s ense th at the character of O ur

Blessed L ord ri ses above all men and makes Him
the Perfect E xemplar of goodness an d th e Paragon
of virtues One might S ho w how He combined Ma
.
j esty and Gentleness Peacefulness and Force Mag

, ,
nanm ity and Humility; but for the sake O f brevity
we limit ourselves only to the tw o extreme vi rtues ‘
which He recommended to His A postles at the be

“
ginning of H is public life : B e ye therefore wi se
”
as serp ents and si mple as do ves .
TH E E T E RNAL G ALILEAN
the priests And all this at the entr ance to the
.
Temple Of the Most High .
When Our Blessed L ord entered a righteous in

digna tion laid hold of Him for what is character ,
but a be a utiful ten sion between force and meek

ness A n anger divorced from meekness is but u n
.
sanctifi ed passion a nd meekness which cannot kin

,
d le into indignation is closely allied to m or a l col

lapse A nd on the occ a sion O ur L ord s swift indig
.
,
’
nation was j ust as much a p a rt of His Perfect S anc

tity as H is silent meekne ss in the hour of the Pas
,
sion. He could n ot being Justi ce I tself be silent

, ,
befor e an O ff ence against God His eyes burned .
with a contr olled anger ; His fi rm fa ce set in com

'
manding scorn His h ands reached to some bits of

.
binding cord lying on the floor beside Him With .
Hi s fingers rapidly yet c almly He knotted them

, ,
into a whip The trafllcker s stood still ; the mer

.
chants eyed Him with growing fear ; then they

stepped back from Him as One Whom they had rea
son to fear .
Then quietly but firmly He bega n to m ove H is

tiny whip of knotted cord The frightened crowd .
yielded and sheep and cattle broke and fled With .
H is foot He overthrew the tables of the m oney

changers as vth ey rushed to the floor to gather up
,
their j angling coins fro m the filth and p olluti on .
B efore those w h o sold doves He stood still for the ,
d ove was the Offering O f the poor and there was less ,
de secration in their lovely emblems of innocence and

purity To these He w as more gentle He did not
. .
sc atter them ; He did not bre a k the ba skets and r e

lease the doves ; to them He S poke tenderly but
“
fir mly : T a ke these things henc e and m ake not the
”
house Of my F ather a house of traflic ‘
.
And Hi s disciple s seeing this tr ansport Of inspir

ing and glorious anger rec alled to mind wh at David
,
“
ha d wr itten of Him in prophecy The zeal O f thy °
”
house hath e aten me up .
A nd if we ask why the greedy traffickers did not

re sist a s t heir oxen were chased into the street or
,
the money flung on the fl oor an d att a ck the young ,
Galilean the answer is bec a use S i n i s we akness ; b e

,
c a use there is nothing in the world so utterly abj ect

and helpless as a guilty conscien ce ; bec a use nothing
so invincible as the sweeping tide of God like ind ig

-
nation against all that is b a se or wrong ; b ecause

’
vice cannot stand for a moment before Virtue s u p
lifted arm Base and low as they were every one
. ,
of them w ho h a d a remn ant O f h is soul not yet e aten
a w a y by infidelity and a va rice knew t hat the S on O f
M an was right .
All the while there w as standing on the marble

steps th at led up to the Holy Of Holies a group O f ,
L evites Scribes and Pharisees who knew what a

, , ,
hea vy loss that stampede would c a use the merchants

and themse l ves They looked for the c a use of the
.
commotion and saw that He Who provoked it all was

a carpenter from lowly N az a reth with no mark Of ,
Office about Him no scrolls no ensigns of dignity

, , ,
but only an uplifted hand They were indign ant

. .
H ow d are thi s O b scure working m an with a few

ill smelling fi shermen a s comp anions arr ogate a u
-
'
thor ity to himself within the Temple precincts in ,
which they alone w ere m a sters They moved down

?
the steps to Him a s He stood alone with the whip

,
“
cord in H is ha nd and a sked : Wh at sign do st thou
,
”?
show unto u s seeing thou dost these things
,
He might have pointed His finger at the p anic

s t ricken crowd as a S i gn th at all men f ear the Ju s
10 0 TH E E T ERNAL GALILEAN
tice of G od But th ese were learned m en skilled in
.
,
the Scriptures and wise in their own conceits A nd

, .
before th ose w ho thought them selves wise O ur ,
Blessed L ord was wiser He would show to them a .
Wisdo m so deep so profound so revealing the

, ,
truth of this Scripture that not even they the wise , ,
m en of I srael would understand I n fact what He

, .
,
said w a s so deep it would take them al most three

years to understand it Fir m ly and sole m nly with .
a gesture centered on Hi m self He said so m ething ,
bey ond their co mprehension so m ething which in its ,
apparent m eanlng filled them with perfect stup or

and angry a m azem ent because they understood not
its depth The words were over their heads at the
.
,
“
sa m e ti m e they stole into their heart s : Destroy this
”
tem ple and in three days I will raise it up
,
.
Destroy this tem ple ! This tem ple on which

‘ x q
t
Solo m on had lavished his wealth ! Thi s tem ple on

which ten thousand workm en enrolle d as they
br ought the C edars of L eb anon to its walls This ,
tem ple with its fragrant woods embroidered vei ls , ,
precious stones glitter i ng roofs ! This temple which

,
was forty and six years i n the building and was far
fro m finished ! And this obscure Galilean youth
b ade them destroy it and He would rebuild it in
three days ! S uch was the false construction they
"
put upon H is words because they were not wise ,
enough to understand the Wisdo m of God .
O u r Blessed L ord did not m ean that earthly

tem ple before the m but the tem ple of His B ody , .
B ut why call H is B ody a te m ple ? B ecause a tem

ple is the pla c e where God dwells He wa s there .
fore equivalently saying : The real te m ple in which

God dwell s is not th at place of stone but this taber
na ele of living flesh which I have taken from My
1 02 TH E E T ERNAL G ALI LEAN
p licity of Our L ord to the Syro Phoenician woman -
.
I n the middle of H is Public L ife O u r Blessed L ord

driven fro m Galilee driven fro m Judea made H is ,
'
,
way as a wanderer on the earth to the coa st of Syria

where stood the cities of Tyre and Sidon fast falling
int oruins N o sooner had He come into these cities
.
,
than a poor infir m wo m an approached H im She

,
.
wa s a Gentile and theref ore what a Jew proud of

,
hi s noble ancestry would call a contemptible Can

nanite what a R o m an whose subj ect she w a s would
, , . ,
call a Syro Phoenician or a m o r e or less degenerate

-
Greek She had a daughter now growing up w h o

.
, ,
was suffering fro m an unclean spirit and quite mad .
This shame obliged her to live rather apart fro m

her neighbo rs .
B ut when she heard the great Wonder Worke r

h a d come into h er city she m ust go a n e
d see Him
g
, ,
even though He w as a Jew and she a Gentile She .
ran to Him and at a distance noticed He w a s kindly ,
gentle and above all simple She heard her Jewish

, , .
friends call Him L ord : and other s Son of David .
She would call H im both and thr owing herself at

“
His feet with a piercing petiti on she cried : O L ord ,
thou son of David my daughter is grievously trou

,
”
bled by a devil .
O ur L ord did not look disple ased but He an

sw er ed her not a word H e walke d on testing her , ,
faith and her perseverance But sh e walked on too .

,
p leading ,begging and praying The disciples

, bad e .
h er leave but she refused

, B eco m ing indignant at .
her annoying plea they b esought Our L ord sayin g

, , ,
“ ”
Send her away for sh e crieth after u s Our L ord .
looked dow n at her sweetly but what He said ,
”
seem ed to approve His disciples I was not sent
“
.
,
“
He told her but to the sheep that ar e lost of the
,
TH E ETE R NAL GALI LEA N 1 03
house of I sr ae She seem ed to sense it was not a

rebuke otherwise He w ou ld h a e sent her away as
,
'
v
His disciples had bidden Him to do He had not .
said He would not cure her daughter H e had only

. .
said His mission was first to H is ow n people She .
would try agai n—so sh e threw herself at H is sacred

feet in adoration and with m ore appeal than ever ,
“ ”
looked into His eyes saying : L ord help me ,
Could He remain untouched by that so rr ow ?
Would He leave her to a life long agony of watch

-
ing the paroxys ms of her dem oniac child ? Cal mly ‘
and coldly there cam e f r o m those lips that neve r yet

left unanswered a suppliant s prayer words which
’ '
rem inded her that sh e wa s not of the house of I srael :

“
It is not good to take the bread of the children ,
”
and to ca st it to the dogs
'
But n ot all the snows of L ebanon could quench

the fires of love and hop ewhich burned on the great
altar of he r heart and pro m pt a s an echo cam e
, ,
“
not an answer but a glorious retort :
, Y ea L ord for ,
the whelps al so eat of the cru mbs that fall from the
”
table of their maste rs I f a self wise Phari see had
.
-
made a retort of that kind O ur L o r d would have

,
withered him with His Wisd om but when a sim ple ,
soul makes a retort against Divinity and says she is

only a puppy begging fo r a crum b then He becomes ,
so simple as to be see m ingly vanquished by her sim
plicity. He Wh o exalted Hi m self am idst the proud

humbles Himself before the humble He Who w a s ,
“
wise with His profound m eaning of the word Tem
”
ple before those w h o thought them selves wise is ,
now simple before a Syro Phoenician with her sim

-
“ ”
ple tu rn of the w ord d og H is heart expands Hi s
‘
.
,
“
lips move : 0 woman great is thy faith : L et it be
,
”
done to thee as thou wilt .
04 TH E ETE R NAL G ALI LEAN
Wonderful Wisdom ! Wonderful Si m plicity ! Such
is the Character of Christ A God and a Child Oh
. . ,
will ou r world ever learn to imitate that beautiful

tension between Opposites ? Will it go on dividing
itself into the two classes of the educated and the
uneducated the literate and the illiterate heaping
, ,
praise on the so called wise who rej ect the Wisdom

-
of God and p ouring scorn on the si m ple w h o accept

it ? Or will it so m e day unde r the m agic touch of
Ch r ist discover that the truest wisdo m is in being
,
simple and the truest si m plicity is in being wi se

with the wisdo m of God It i s easy to b e one or the
.
other b u t it i s di ffi cult to be both ; j ust as it is easy

,
to h a ve nothing and easy to possess everything but

, ,
it is d iffic ult to live having nothing and yet p osses

sing everything That is why it is easy to be anythin g
.
but a good Christian I t is hard to grow wiser and

.
still be S i mple enough to want to be t aught and ,
yet that is the condition of entering heaven No .
old p eople enter it— using old in the sense of those

.
“
full of the conceits of years Whosoever shall not
.
r eceive the kingdom of God as a little child shall not

”
enter into it . Th ere are only nurseries there !
6 TH E ETE R NAL GALI LEA N
cession to the Hill of the Skull whe r e tradition ma r k
ed the gr ave of A dam and where the N ew A dam
'
would now lay down His L ife to take it u p again .
When their j ob was finished and the last nail driven ,
into H is Throne as a word of forgiveness bore into

,
their hearts they rested and divided the gar m ents

—
, .
7 for the Man on the c ross h a d no further u se for
them This was the perquisite of the executioners

.
and it came to them by law The soldiers d ivide d .

,
the spoils leaving only the tunic or the seam less

, ,
robe I t would be a sin to cu t it for after that it

.
,
would be of no u se to anyone ; but one of them an ,
old gambler took ou t his dice threw the m and the

, , ,
t u ni c w oven by H is sinless M other was awa r ded by

luck to sinful m en Then in those terrible si m ple
.
, ,
“ ”
words of the Gospel They sat and watched H im , .
A nd what did : the y think of the Man Who m they

sat and watched ? A s the s h adow of the cross fell
ab out thei r di c e they j oked gossi p ed and ga mbled , ,
the hours away ; they engross ed the m selves in thei r

ow n favo r ite top i c s of conversation in m utual ban
.
,
ter and trifling little games

, N ow and then they .
glanced up with curious interest Once they looked .
up at H im as He promised pardon to a thief—but it

was only a passing glance Once again they gazed .
'
at Ma r y and wondered how any one crucified could

,
have such a beautiful Mother and then how the ,
Cr u cifi ed could be even more beau tiful than His

—
Mother but it w as only a passing glance Back .
“ ”
to their ga m es they went as they sat and watched .
They talked about the latest cock fight in J eru sa

lem ; about a wrestling m atch one of the m had seen
in A ntioch ; about the great chariot race that was
to be run in R ome the coming I de s of May ; about
the gambling gain s of a soldie r in their garris on ;
TH E E T ERNAL GALILEAN 1 07
about the po ssibility of R ome so m e day stam p ing

J erusale m under her heel ; about the new dancing
girl in the court of Herod ; about the thousand and
one indifferent things such individual s would talk
about ; ever yt hing in a word except ab out th e one
, ,
’
thing that m attered A nd yet there within a stone s
.
,
throw of them—they might even have thrown thei r

dice at H im —was being enacted the tremendous
dra m a of the Redem ption of m ankind ; and they
on ly sa t an d wa tch ed There they were in the pres
.
ence of the mo st stupendous fact in the history of

.
the world actors in the supre m e event for which

,
all creation groaned and they saw nothing They

,
.
watched but their m inds were fixed on other things

, ,
on worldly pleasure on reward on money on wine

, , , ,
on travel on everything but the My stery of the

,
Cross .
A nd the Three Hours slipped by— opportunities

soon pass The young and Divine Body which su f
.
fer ed so m uch because it had so great a Soul w as ,
now turned into a funeral pyre of su ffering where
all the suffering of the world burned togethe r A s .
the exe cutioners wat ch passively He c ommends ,
His Soul to H is Heavenly Father H is friend at the ,
r ight to Par adise H is Mothe r to John ; and they

,
on ly sa t a n d wa tch ed
—
.
The scene changes but the lesson remains eve r

the sa m e Divinity is still in the w orld and the
.
world receives it not N ote the indifference in the

.
field of education and international politics .
Go into the world of ed u cation ente r into the ,
university classro om and everywhere you will hea r

such wild ideas as these : The universe is due to
chance ; man is a mere accident in the evolution o f
the co smos ; the soul is a survival belief of the -
1 08 TH E ETE R NAL GALILEAN
Middle A ges Thi s is the type of talk which is j ust
.
as m uch p ure non sense as the ga m bler s on Calvary

spoke—not a single idea of which will outlive the
professors who teach the m A nd as these so called .
-
learned men while away the precious mom ents given

to discover the Truth which is God there stands in
the midst of them—why they even have th r own
,
—
their books at it a s the soldiers m ight have thrown
,
their dice an institution which has been educating

for two thousand years preserving for our age the
,
b est culture art and phil osophy of the p ast and

, , ,
they only sit and w a tch The suggestion that T r uth

,
may be in the Church is a s absurd to them as the

s uggestion th at Truth is p il l oried to a C r oss—so
they only sit and watch .
E nter now into the broad field of inte r nationa l

politics . Y ear aftei; year in Washington L ondon , ,
Geneva and L ausanne the representatives of the

, ,
great nations gather together in a real l y earnest de ,
sire to bind all people together in the bond of unity ,
and peace B ut year after yea r their treaties fail

.
and why ? Because they have n othing outside the

nations the m selves to bind them A m an cannot .
wrap up a package if he is part of the package a ,
man cannot pac k his valise if he is one of the arti a
cles that goes into the valise I n like m anner na .

,
tions cannot tie the m selves into a league if they are

parts of the league A nd if they are parts of the
.
l eague their treaties m ean merely obeying some one

’
els e s politicians and if we will not obey ou r ow n
,
politicians then heaven knows we will not obey

,
so m e one else s politicians There is only one thing

’
.
in the world which can tie together all the nations

of the world in the bond of peace and that i s some
,
thing outside the nations them selves B ut the r e i s .

110 TH E ETE R NAL GALILEA N
vive the s p irit of the days when men believed in
Truth I know the old age had its defects ; I know it
.
had i ts s pi r it of p e r secution of nar rownes s ; but ,
these were only the excesse s of r ea l virtues— s u ch

as love of Truth I nstead of p urifying them we
.
,
have taken the m away root and branch and all and ,
now are indi fferent to right and wrong to good and ,
e vil. A nything is better than such torpor of a ma

ter ializ ed people to who m God and eternity are as
if they neve r existed Anything is better than the.
fear of the resp onsibilities of Truth which allow a

restles sness an ennui a loathing and a doubt to
, , ,
creep into their souls until it grows into a boredom .
Truth is all i m portant E rr or is serious Hence . .
before darkness settles over our live s let us see that ,
since Christ will not c ome down we will have to ,
get up lest perch ance while we p lay ou r games and

,
throw ou r dice we may miss the real lesson of the

great Dra m a of T r uth There i s one gamble that .
i s true and that is the gamble of Christ Who took

, ,
!
His life in the p al m of His Hands r olled it out i n

th e blood red dr ops of R edemption—and befor e the
,
sun had set He knew that H e had w on We can be .
g amble r s like Him for we can take th e dice of this

,
world with its tinsel its r usting treasures its pas

, , ,
sing j oy and throw them f or the everlasti ng c rown

,
of glory w i th Ch r ist the King and in that hou r of ,
ou r c r ucifixion when we have thr own away all ou r

lower s elf and we m ay think we have l ost all it
,
shall prove to be like the Saviour s—the hour of

,
’
,
our Greatest Victory .

TH E ET E R NAL GALILEAN 111
TH E CRO SS E S O F LOVE AN D H A TE
A dd re s s de l iver ed on M a r ch 1 1 , 1 93 4 .
I t is my goo d fo rtune to b elong to a Church ‘
whi th is h a ted Trul y ind ee d it is l oved by those

.
w h o know its divine character ; b u t it is al so hated

by tho usands w h o regard it as ant i quated as be ,
hind the times as superstitious and ignorant I t

, .
is spoken of as a M other by those who r eceive its

spiritu al be nefits but it is so d esp is ed by others
,
that it h as been driven from so m e countries has ,
been tolerated by others and regardless of h ow,
much other sects may differ a m ong themsel ves it ,
is frequentl y consid ered thei r one co mm on ene m y .
A paral l el o f th e attitude of the worl d to the

Cathol ic Church is to be fo und in its attitu de to
ward Christ He too was l oved ; but He al so was
.
hated We d o not find s uch l ove toward any other

.
p erson as we d o toward Him ; neithe r do we find

such abiding hate I t i s th erefor e fitting to an
.
swer s uch questions as : Why is B ud dhism not

hated and why is Catholi c ism hated by asking ,
Why is B uddha not hated why is Christ hated ?

,
Firstl y a word abo ut the l ove a nd hatred to

,
ward the p erson of Christ and then about H is

.
,
Church There are tw o great p assions which en

.
twine the m selves around the l ife of O ur L ord as

they do about no other p erson w ho ever l ived : the
passion of l ove and the p assion o f hate He said .
He woul d b e l oved H e said He woul d b e hated

.
.
He s aid He woul d be adored ; He said He woul d be

scorned He said He would be loved unto folly ;
.
He said He woul d be hated unto fury ; and the duel

woul d go on until th e end of tim e Hate woul d .
1 12 TH E E TE RNAL GALILEAN
l ift H im up on a cross bu t once on it He wo u l d
,
“
lift all love r s unt o His Heart whi ch is L ove A nd .
I if I be l ifted up fro m the earth wil l draw al l

, ,
”
things to mys el f .
He sai d He wo ul d be l oved more th a n fathers

and m others l ove chil dren and m or e than chil dren
love f athe r and mother This did not mean not
v
.
!
loving pa r ents or not lo m g children I t meant
, .
only loving them in H im He did not say we sho uld

.
l ove one anoth er l es s but onl y that we m ust l ove

,
Him m ore A nd is not this reasonabl e ? Shoul d

.
not th e whol e b e l oved m or e than th e p art ; shoul d

not th e fire be preferred to the sp ark ; sho ul d not
the circu m fer ence be l oved mor e than the arc ; the
te m pl e m ore than the pil l ar ; shoul d not the
Creator be l oved m ore than His creatures Go d be ,
l oved m ore than m en and L ove l oved more than

,
the l ovel y ?
O pen the p ages of history and na m e one singl e

man who has ever been so l oved after his d eath to
a p oint of sacrifice and prayer His cross has bee n .
d el uged with tears o f l ove in every age and cen

tury To it al l generations as e nthu siasts of l ove
.
,
have come crying ou t in th e l a nguag e of Paul °
“
Who shal l sep arate us fro m the l ove of Christ ?
Shal l tribul ations ? or distress ? or famine ? or
nakedness ? or danger ? or p ersecution ? or the
sword ? B ut in al l thes e thin gs we overcome ,
because of him th at hath l oved us F or I am sure .
t hat neither d eath nor l ife nor angel s nor prin

, , ,
cip a lities nor p owers nor things present nor

, , ,
things to co m e nor m ight nor height nor d epth

, , , ,
n or any other creature shal l be abl e to sepa r ate us
from the l ove of Go d which is i n Christ J esus ou r

”
L ord .
1 14 TH E E T E RNAL GALILEAN
“
l anguage of Pascal : J esus Christ wished to be
”
l oved H e is l oved Therefor e H e is Go d
. . .
'
N ow l et us tu r n to the othe r fact about the l ife

,
of O ur L ord which proves H e is divine ; and that
is hate Hated He said He woul d be by the worl d

until the end of ti m e—not the material universe
. ,
not by p eo p l e in general in it but hated rather by ,
what His Own ap ostl es have cal l ed the sp irit of

the worl d .
R ecal l som e of th e incid ents of His l ife and you

wil l see how the worl d hated H im from the very
beginning When onl y eight days of age the ven
.
er ab le old Si m eon tol d His mother that He was a
sign to b e c ontrad icted which w a s j ust a p ara,

’
phras e of J ohn s tragic note that H e cam einto the

’
worl d and the worl d received H im not When stil l

.
.
und er two years o f age the sol diers of Herod drew

swor ds to sl aughter the I nnocents in a vain at
tempt to kil l I nno cenc e Then l ater on in the ful l
.
bl oom an d bl ossom of l ife picture this Hu m bl e ,
A rti san wi th His ap ostl es on the very night before

He died l ooking down the co r ridors of ti m e and
,
saying to al l future generations that He woul d be

hated by the worl d That hatred woul d be so per
.
sonal He went on to say that anyone w h o l oved ,
H im woul d in turn be hated by the worl d “

I f the .
worl d hate yo u know ye that it hath hated m e be

, ,
fore you I f yo u had been of the worl d the worl d

.
,
woul d l ove its own : but becaus e you are not of the
_
worl d but I have chosen you ou t of the worl d

, ,
therefore the worl d hateth you R e m ember m y .
word that I said to yo u : The servant is not greater

than his maste r I f th ey have p ers ec uted m e they
.
,
w il l al so p e r se c ute you A l l thes e things they

.
TH E E T ER NAL GALILEAN 115
wil l d o to you for m y na m e s sake ; b ecaus e th ey

’
”
k now not h im that sent m e .
He shal l b e hated ! What a p ecul iar proph ecy !

?
What had he ever done to be hated He was meek
and humbl e of h eart , His l ife He o ff er ed for the
redemption of many H is Gosp el was the Gospel
.
of l ove even for H is enem ies His l ast act was

v
.
,
p ard on and forgl eness for those who p ut Him to

“
d eath I t was al l a hatred as He said without
. , ,
”
cause . There was a terribl e p erversity in it al l .
He heal ed their wo unds and they wound ed Him

,
.
He bro u ght back their dead to l ife and they took ,
away His l ife He cal l ed men fro m evil to goo d

. ,
and yet evi l men nail ed Him to a cross He bro ught .
Divine L ife to make al l m en friends and enem ies ,
gave Him an ignominious death .
N eith er was there any reaso n for hating H im

in thos e wh o l oved Him They were to be p oor as
.
He was p oor they strove to b e p erfect as the i r

,
Heavenl y Father was p erfect an d humbl e l ike H im ,
Wh o washed their feet E ven when p erse cuted

.
,
they rej oiced ; when cursed they bl essed as if the, ,
insul t of wicked men was th e cons ecration of their

ow n goodness and the m u d thrown at them by the
,
i m p ure a p l edge of th eir ow n p urity .
There is nothing to hate in s uch a l ife nor in ,
such a doctrine We must l ook outsid e of Him and

.
H is Gospel then if we are to find the rea son for

,
the immortal ity of that hatr ed C an it be that He .
was an imp ostor as C ommunist R ussia bel ieves

and that H is rel igion is an im postu r e? B ut i f He
is an im p ostor as the Soviets bel ieve then ou r loVe
for Him is fal se and th eir hate for Him is true
, .
B ut if thei r hatred is true then it ought to renovate

,
their society and tra nsfor m the hearts of men I f .

16 TH E ETE R NAL GALILEAN
ou rl ove for H im has done so much to r e m ak e men ,
and ou r l ove is a vain drea m then what great ,
th i ngs their hatred shoul d d o which overth r ows

s u c h an idol B ut na m e one thing that their hatred
.
for O ur Lo rd has done Where are the goo d works

.
of their hatred ? What p eop l es have they drawn
from Vice and corruption ? What sou ls h a e they

‘
v
co nsol ed ? What hearts have they sweetened ?
Where are their Sisters of Charity ? Where ar e

their Sisters of the Poor Where are thei r martyrs
?
,
their white robed virgins their hap py marriages ?

,
Ther e are m en dying in sorrows There are soul s .
crying ou t for the bread of everl asting l ife and ,
there ar e sinful h earts p l eading for forgiveness .
Where oh ! where—O H atred of Chr ist is you r

, , ,
conso l ation yo ur mercy and yo ur p eace for such

,
soul s ?
No th e hatred of Christ is not to b e fo und i n
,
the fact that He was an imp ostor for hatred is a ,
negation and the negation is an asser tion of His

,
existence There are too many m inds in al l ages

.
wh o have stu died and bent their knee to ad m it He ,
was an imp osto r Where then find a reason for the

.
hatred ?
Ther e must be som e reason p ecul iar to Him and

Him al one which accounts for hate I n no one el se .
in al l histo r y d o you find an abiding an i m mortal

'
hatred except against O u r L ord No other fo under .
of a worl d r el igion ever said h e woul d be hated ,
and no one ever was hated M ohammed is not .
hated Z aroaster is not hated Buddha is not hated

, , .
S ome men whil e they l ived were hated N ero was .
hated whil e h e l ived even by h is ow n countrymen

, .
A gh is Khan was h ated by a great mass of human

ity Bis mar c k w as hated by many of his ow n coun
.
1 18 TH E ETE R NAL G ALI LEAN
of th e chil dre n of God Hatred stil l endures be
. ,
cause He stil l l ives B ut if He stil l l ives then He is

.
Divi ne I f He is Divine then until the spirit of the

.
‘
worl d dies th er e shal l b e distress for His fol l ow

,
“
ers B ut when it dies Victo r y
. ,I n the worl d you .
sh al l have distress ; but have confid ence I have ,
”
ove r come th e worl d .
He r e is the key to the hat r ed of the Church

O ur L o r d was intensel y l oved and intens el y hated
bec a use He w as Divine O nl y th e perversion of the
.
sovereign l ove o f Go d co ul d ever exp l ai n such hate .
Onl y that which continues that Divine L ife coul d

ever be the obj ect of such a hate .
“
A s Ca r dinal N ewman has said : If the r e is a
fo r m of Christianity now in the worl d which is
accused of gross s up erstition of borro w ing its ,
rites and cu stom s fr om th e heathen and of ascrib

‘
ing to fo r ms and ce r emonies an o cc ult vi rtu e ; a

rel igion which is consid ered to burd en and ensl a e v
the mind of its r equisitions to ad dress itsel f to th e
,
weak minded and ignorant to be s up p orted by

-
,
soph i stry and imp ostur e and to contradict reason

,
and exalt me r e i rr ational f aith ; a r eligi on which

imp r esses on the serio us m i nd very distressing
vi ews of th e guilt and cons equ enc es of sins s ets ,
up on the minute a cts of the d ay one by one their , ,
definite val u e for pr aise or bl ame and thus c asts ,
a grave shado w over th e future ; a r el i gion which

hol ds u p to admiration the surrender of wealth ,
an d disabl es serious p er sons from enj oying it if

they wo ul d ; a religion the d octrines of which a r e
,
.
to the general ity of m en unknown ; which is con

sid ered to bear on its very surface signs of f ol l y
and fal s ehoo d so d istinct that a gl an c e s uffices to

j udge of it and th at ca r ef u l examination is pr e
,
TH E ETE R NAL GALI LEAN 119
p oster ou s ;a rel igion such that men l ook at a con ,
vert to it with curiosity susp icion fear disgust , , , ,
as the case may be as if so m ething strange had

,
befal l e n him as if he had had an initiation into a

,
.
m ystery and ha d co m e into c o m munion with

,
dreadful influences as if he were now one of a con

,
fed era c y which cl aimed him absorbed h im st r ip , ,
pe d him of his p ersonal ity red uced him to a m ere ,
organ or instru m ent of a whol e ; a rel igion wh ich

m en hate as prosel ytizing anti social re olu ,
-
, v
tionar y as dividing famil ies
,
s eparating chief ,
friends c orrupting the maxi m s of government

, ,
m aking mock at l aw dissolving th e em pir e the

, .
,
enemy of human nature and a consp irator ,

‘
’
against its rights and privil eges ; a r eligion which t
they consider the cha m pion and instr ument of

darkness and a p ol l ution cal l ing d own up on the
,
l and the anger of heaven ; a rel igion which they

associate with intrigue and consp iracy which
,
,
they s p eak about in whisp ers which they detect ,
by anticipation in whatever go es wrong and to ,
w hich they imp ute whatever is accountabl e ! a r e

ligion the very na m e of which they c ast ou t as
,
evil and u se si m p l y as a bad ep ithet and which

, ,
from th e impul s e of sel f p r eservation they woul d

p ersecute if they coul d ; if there be s uch a rel igion
now in the wo r l d it is not unl ike Ch r istianity as
,
that s ame worl d viewed it when first it came forth ,

”
from its Divine A uthor .
I f you woul d find Christ to day then find the ,
Church th at does not get al ong with the wo r l d .
L ook for the Church that is hated by the worl d as

Christ w as h ated by th e worl d L ook for the .
Chu r ch which is a cc used of being behind the times

as Ou r L ord was a cc us ed of being igno r ant and
0 TH E E T ERNAL GALILEA N
never having l earned L ook for the Chu r ch which
.
men sneer at as social l y inferio r as they sneere d

at O ur Lord because He came from N azareth .
L ook for th e Church which is accus ed of having a

devil as O ur L ord was accused of being p ossessed
,
by B eel zebub the Princ e of D evi l s L ook fo r the

, .
Church which in s easons of bigotry men say must

, ,
be destroyed in the na m e of Go d as m en crucified

,
Christ and thought they had d one a se rvice to God .
L ook for th e Church which the worl d r ej ects be

cause it cl aims it is infal libl e as Pil ate rej ected
,
Chri st becaus e H e cal l ed Himsel f th e T r uth .
L ook for the Church which is rej ected by the worl d

as O ur L ord w a s rej ected by men L ook for the
.
Chu r ch which a m id the confusion of conflicting

O pinions its me m bers l ove as they l ove Christ and
v
,
r esp e ct its oice as the very voice of its Founde r

=
,
and the suspicion wil l grow that if the Church is

unp o p ul ar with the sp i r it o f the worl d then it is,
unworl d l y and if it i s unworl d ly it is Divine I f

, , .
it is Divine then it must be infinitel y l oved an d in

,
finite ly hated as was C hrist H imsel f B ut onl y

.
that which is Divine can be the obj e c t of infinite

hate and l ove Therefore the Chur c h is Divine
, .
Therefore it is the l ife of Christ a m ong men .
Therefore we l ove it Therefore we hop e to die in

.
its B l e ssed E m bra c e .

1 22 T H E E T ERNAL GALILEAN
H e reveal s h ow p ain can b e transfor m ed through
l ove i nto a j oyf u l sacrifice h ow those who sow in ,
tears m ay reap in j oy how those who m ourn may ,
be comforted h ow th os e w h o s uffer with Him may

,
r eign with Him and how those w h o take up a cross

,
for a b rief Goo d Friday wil l p oss ess hap p iness

for an eternal E aster Sunday L ove is as it we r e .
, ,
the j om t wher e the horizontal bar of d eath and

the ve rti c al bar of l ife become reconcil ed in the .
doctrine that al l l ife is through d eath .
Her e is where the sol ution of O ur L ord diffe rs

fr om every other sol ution of the probl em of p ain ,
even those sol utions which mask the mselves under

the name of Christian The worl d m eets the prob
.
l em of p ain eithe r by denying it or by attem p ting .
to make it insol ubl e I t is d enied by a p ecul iar

.
process of sel f hyp notism which woul d say that

-
p ain is imaginary and d u e to want o f faith ; it is

made insol uble by an attempt to escape or flee it ,
for the mo d er n man feel s it is better to sin th an

to su ffe r O ur L ord on the contrary does not
.
, ,
d eny p ain ; He d o es not attempt to escap e it H e .
faces it and by d oing so proves that suffering is

,
not fo r eign even to a God become Man .
Pain has ther ef ore a d efinite p art to p l a y i n

, ,
l ife I t is a r ema rkabl e fact that our sensibil ities

.
are mor e d evel op ed for p ain than for p l easu r e ,
a nd ou r p ower f or suffering is in excess of ou r
p ow er for j oy Pl easur e increases to a p oint of

.
satiety and we feel that if it went beyond that

p oint it woul d bec om
,
, e a p ositive torture Pain .

,
on the contrary goes on incr easm g and increas i ng

, ,
“ ”
eve n when we h ave cried enough ; it reaches a
p oint wher e we feel we can bear it no l onger and ,
yet it unburd en s its el f until it kil l s I bel ieve the .

TH E E T ERNAL G ALILEAN 12 3
reason why we have gr eater cap acity for p a in than

p l easure is b ecaus e Go d intend ed that thos e who
lead a sound mor al life should dr i nk the l a st drop
‘
of the chal ice of bitterness here be low for ther e ,
is no bitterness in heaven B ut the mo r al l y goo d .
never quite sound the d epths of p l easur e her e be

l ow for greater hap p iness awaits them in heaven
,
.
B ut whatever the real reason the truth stil l r e ,
m ains that on the cross O ur L ord shows th at L ove

can take no oth er form when it i s bro ught into ,
contact with evil than the for m of p ain To over

,
.
co m e evil with goo d one must su ffer unj ustl y The

,
.
does not m ean p ain ; it means sac r ifi c e I n other .
wo rd s it tel l s u s first pa m i s sa crifice without

’
, , ,
l ove ; and secondl y that sacrifice is p ain with l ove

,
.
Firstl y p ain is s acrifice witho ut l ove

,
The .
Crucifixion is not a gl orification of p ain as p ain .
The Christian attitude to mortifi cation h as som e

ti m es been misrepresented as id eal izing p ain as it ,
God wer e m ore p leased with us when we suffered

than when we rej oiced N o ! Pain in itself h as
.
no sanctifying influ ence The natural e ffect of .
p ain is to individ ual ize us center our thoughts on ,
ourselves and m ake our infir m ity th e excuse for

,
every comfort and attention A l l the a ffl ictions .
of the bo dy such as p enance m or tifi cation have

, , ,
no p owe r in themselves to make men better .
They o ften make a man wors e Wh en p ain is di

v
.
or ced from l ove it l eads a m an to wish other s

,
were as h e is ; it m akes him cruel hateful bitter , , .
When p ain is u nsanctifi ed by affection it scars , ,
burns up al l ou r finer sensibil ities of the soul and ,
l eaves the soul fierce and br utal Pain as p ain .

,
then is not an ideal : it is a curs e when sep arated
, ,
from l ove for rather than m aking one s soul bet

’
ter it makes it wors e by scorching it

,
.
Now l et us turn to the oth er sid e of the p icture .
P a i n i s not to be denied ; it is not to be escaped .
I t is to b e m et with l ove an d mad e a sa cr ifice .
A nal yze yo ur own e x perience and d o not your ,
heart a nd m ind say that l ove is ca p ab le of over /
rul ing in some way yo ur natural feel ings about

, ,
p ain ; that so m e things which otherwis e m ight be

p ainful are a j oy to yo u when you find they benefit
others ? L ove in other words can trans m ute p ain
, ,
and make it sacrifice which is always a j oy I f

, .
yo u l os e a su m o f money is not yo ur l oss softened ,
by the d iscovery that it was fo und by so m e very

p oor p er son who m you l oved ? I f your h ea d is °
racked with painh you r b o dy wasted and worn

from l ong vigil s by the bed sid e of yo ur chil d is -
,
not the p ain softened by the t h o ught that thro ugh

yo ur l ove and d evotion the chil d was nursed back
,
again to health ? Y o u coul d never have felt th e

j oy nor had the faintest id ea of what your l ove
,
w as if that sacrifice had been denied you

, B ut if .
your l ove were abs ent then th e sacrifice woul d ,
have been p ain vexation and annoyan ce

, , .
The truth gradual l y e m erges that ou r highest

’
hap p iness c onsists in the feel ing that another s ’
goo d is p urchas ed by ou r sacrifice ; that the reason

wh y p ain is bitter is because we have no one to
l ove and for who m we might su ffer L ove is the .
onl y force in the \worl d wh ich can m ake p ain bear

abl e and it makes it m ore than bearabl e by trans
,
f o r ming it into the j o y of sacrifice .
Now if the dross of p ai n can be trans m uted

,
into the gol d of sacrifice by the al chemy of l ove ,

126 THE E T ERNA L GAL ILEA N
“
S ha ll I t ak e awa y p ain ?
A nd w it h it th e p owe r o f th e so u l t o e n du r e
M ad e s tron g b y th e s tra in ?
S hall I t ake awa y pity th at knit s h e ar t t o he art
A n d s a cr i fi c e h i gh ?
Will ye l os e a ll your her o e s wh o l ift fr om th e fl am e
Wh ite b rows to th e sk y ?
S h all I t ake away l ove th at r e d eem s with a pri c e
A n d s m ile s thr o ugh th e l oss ,
Can ye s p ar e fr o m th os e liv e s t ha t wo u l d c l im b un t o M in e ,
Th e C hr i s t on H i s C r oss ? ”
(1 )
“
No the worl d cannot sp are the Christ on His
v
,
”
Cross That is the reason the worl d is sad H a
. .
i ng forgotten H im it is in p ain A nd oh ! what a

, .
waste o f p ain there is in the worl d ! How man y

aching heads there are which are never united '
with a Head crowned w ith thorns for the R ed em p

tion of the worl d ; h ow m any l a m e feet there are
whos e p ains are never softened by a l ove for those
other Feet wh ich clim bed the great hil l of C al
fi
vary ; how many bruised bod ies there are which ,
knowing not the l ove of Christ for the m have no ,
l ove to so ften their p ains ; how m any aching hearts

there are who ar e in p ain because they have no
great l ove su ch as that of th e Sacred H eart ; h ow
,
ma ny s oul s there are who l ook at the cross instead

of the Crucifix who have the p a i n without the
,
sacrifice wh o never seem to l earn that j ust as it is

,
thr ou gh wa nt of l ove that p ain arises so it is l ater

,
‘
on thro ugh want of l ove that hel l ari ses ; h ow
m any soul s there are who have m issed the j oy of

sacrifice because they have never l oved ! 0 h ow
sweet is th e sacrific e of thos e w h o suffer because
they l ove the L ove Wh o sacrificed Hi m sel f for
them o n a cross To them a l one co m es an und er
.
stand ing of the holy p urp oses of G od for onl y ,
thos e w ho walk in d ar kness ever see the stars .
(1 ) Anon ym ou s
THE ETE R NAL GALILEAN 12 7
H O P E F OR S I NNE R S
A dd r e ss d el iv er ed on M ar ch 25 : 1 93 4
One of the m ost beautiful p aradoxes in the L ife

of O ur L ord is that He Who was sinl ess was the
friend of sinners ; that He Who was Purity c l ean

sed the i m p ure ; and that He Wh o was J ustice
“ ”
ca m e not to cal l the j ust but sinners He hated
, .
sin but He l oved the sinner ; He abhorred dishon

, .
esty but h e cal l ed J udas a frien d ; He d espised

,
adultery b u t He forgav e the a d u lter essf He

,
moved among the i m p ure with the natu r a l mm pli

city of th e p ure and with the strength of a healthy
,
m an a m ong the sick He had not the fear of sin

.
ne r s that a man converted from sin must neces

sa r ily have na m el y the fear of contagion and the
,
dange r of fal l ing again I n this worl d when a

.
servant becomes a master he is no l onger on ,
fa m il iar ter m s with h is servants I n l ike m anner .

,
converted sinners are not always friends of sin

ner s They often dwell on thei r ow n fall on thei r
.
,
l iberation and set themselves up a s p erfect ex

,
ampl es of the sweetness of salvation B ut there .
is nothing of this in the l ife of the E ternal Gal i

l ean . N ever does He even suggest that sinners
must find hop e in Him b ecause He l eft sin behind .
N ever is He the prosel ytizing penitent H is l ove .
for the shipwrecked is not that of one who has

been shipwre cked but of one who travel ed the
,
s eas in cal m His l ove for S i nners then is a p ure

'
l ove a l ove l ik e that of His I m macul ate M other

,
‘
“
l ifted to the infinite a l ove we fal l j ust short of
,
”
in al l l ove a l ove which wil l be found again only
,
in thos e saintly other Christs to whom He gave .

12 8 TH E ET ER NAL G ALILEAN
the p ower to forgive sins a l ove which is Divine
v
, ,
God s love Christ s love—j ust sheer lo e

’
,
’
.
R ecal l fi r st of al l the mercy of O u r L o r d to

,
the thief ; and second l y the sp ecial l ove Ou r L ord,
shows to sinners in th e p a r abl es .
There we r e tw o thieves crucified with Christ

one w ho was a sinner but refused m ercy the other ,
a sinne r w h o begged it The thief on the l eft the. ,
symbol of the goats w h o shal l be on the l eft hand

of Christ on the d ay of J udg m ent began to vo m it ,
a chal l enge which was al so to b e hurl ed at Our

“
L ord fr om the Pharisees beneath I f tho u be .
”
Christ save thysel f and us He cried for salva
tion—but onl y for salvation from nail s and a
.
,
cr oss not fo r salvation from sin and hel l

, The .
wo r l d is ful l of those wh o think suffering is a .
greate r evil th an sin z .
The good thief wh o had been l istening to Him

and the raging voices shrieking bel ow turned to ,
His com pani on r emind ing him to fea r l est God

,
p unish him for ins ulting an innocent man :

“
N either dost tho u fear Go d seeing tho u art u n ,
d e r the same c ond emnation A nd we ind eed j ust .
ly for we re c eive the d ue r eward of ou r deeds ;

,
”
but this man hath d one no evil Then when .
enough dry fuel had gathered on the alta r within

‘
him a sp ar k fr om the central c r oss fel l up on it

, ,
flaming it into a gl orio us il l umination A s if in

v
.
oking the c r imson stream th at p oured fro m

“
Guiltl ess Hands he said to Jesus : L ord reme m
, ,
b er me when tho u shalt come into thy kingd om . ”
A nd He on the central c ross Wh o was c rucified

between thieves became the Divine Thief an d
, ,
turn i ng to th e q uivering l ife besid e Him that w as

tw i st i ng on a tree said th at bef or e the su n would
,
”
have found the groat which I had l ost B ut th ere
.
is no record that sh e ever cal l ed he r f r ien ds and

neighbors to r ej oice ove r p ossess i on of the nine
pieces of money whi c h sh e neve r l ost
i .
Final l y in th e p a r abl e of the pro digal a fathe r

, ,
has two sons . The yo unge r son takes his share

of the s ubstanc e l eaves home s p end ing his for
, ,
tune sinful l y and w aste f ul l y When he r eturns

.
home the fathe r p uts a ring on his finge r a cl oak ,
on h is sho ul de r and gives him the banqu et of the

,
“
f atted cal f sayi ng : Let us eat and mak e mer ry :
,
B ec aus e this my son w a s dead and is co m e to l ife

,
”
again : w as l ost and is found
, B ut the el d er son
.
wh o r ema i n ed at home w as neve r so much as given

a goat to mak e merr y with his friend s .
I n these p a r abl es O ur L o r d see m s to p ut a c e r

tain pr emium u p o n r ep entant sinners A nd is it .
not easy to und erstand ? The satisfaction of fi nd

i ng a l ost obj ect even tho ugh it be val uel ess is
, ,
gr eate r than that of p ossessing other and mo r e ,
val uabl e obj ects which have never been l ost Does .
not a n atio n r ej oice more in a reconquered p r o v

inc e tha n in thos e which wer e n ever sep arated
from h er ? D oes n ot a c hil d w h o h as been away
-
from his fathe r re c eive a wel come and a l ove -
which othe r wise he woul d not have received ? Does

not a mother r ej oic e mdr e in the recovery of her
sick chil d than in the health of al l the ot he r s ?
Ther e is a story tol d abo ut an I tal ian saint w h o ,
whil e one day d u sting th e convent chapel ac c i

fi
,
d ental l y dro p p ed to the floor a smal l statue of

O ur B l essed L ord Picking it up sh e kissed it and
.
“
s aid : J es us if You had not fal l en Y ou never
, ,
”
woul d have got that A nd O ur L ord reveal ed t o
.
he r heart that such was h is attitud e to sinners .

TH E ETE R NAL GALILEA N 13 1
A ff e c tion always eme r ges renewed after the

ecl ips e it su ffer s A r econcilation is a lways sweet
.
e r than an unbroken frien dship What el se can

.
b e the m eanin g of thos e tend er wo r d s of O u r

“
L ord : There shal l be j oy in heaven up on one
sinner that d oth p enance mo r e than up on ninety
,
”
nine j ust wh o need not p enance .
Hence I bel i eve that the r eason why O ur L ord

chose Pete r wh o fel l rathe r than John wh o fel l
,
not as the r ock up on which He built H is Church

, ,
was in o r de r that the Church might always sense

the gr eat need of m er c y and p ardon for sinners .
Pete r is a p r ocl amation to the worl d that is hop e

for the most ha r d ened sinners Peter s tr i p l e d e
.
’
ni al and t r i p le pr ote station of l ove i s a toc s i n

sounding to al l ages that if we had neve r sinned ,
“ ”
we neve r coul d cal l Christ Saviou r .
B ut l et u s not be d eceived ! The merc y of God

is not to be made an excuse for greate r smm ng ;
presuming on His Pardon is one of the gr eatest
sins of al l A nd what is more—a l ife of sin is for
.
given onl y ou condition that we p rove ou r sor r ow ,
a nd there is onl y one way to p r ove it namel y by ,
doing p enance . H en c e Our L ord in sp eaking of

the j oy in heaven at the r eturn of a sinne r added ,
“ ”
a sinner that d oth p enan c e A s a m atte r of f act
.
,
the mo r e tr ul y p enitent we a r e the l ess we hope

,
to esc ap e p unishment . Not even the p enitent thie f

is an ap ol ogy for that u n Ch r istian attitu de that
-
God is indi ff erent to ou r sins and that in th e end

,
al l wil l be wel l regardl ess of h ow we l ive T he

, .
thief was saved n ot becaus e he was a sinner but

,
because he was a penitent Not even his was a

.
d eath bed conve r sion for he did not die in bed

-
but on a c r oss d oing penan c e for h is sins Ou r .

1 32 TH E ETE R NAL GALILEA N
L ord s answer to him was a r evel ation of the con
’
d itional nature of p a r don— a sor r ow wil l ing to
ato ne for sin When th at is p resent O u r L ord

.
al ways gives more than is asked : The thief a sked

for rem embrance O u r L o r d gave him Parad ise
. .
A s w e enter into this week cal l ed Hol y whe n ,
the fl ood gates of Divine M ercy are ope ned to the

-
worl d where is that mercy and pardon to be

. ,
fou nd ? There is a story abo ut a m ysterious box

the contents of which no one knew One d ay it was .
op ened an d found to be th e tr easur e hom e of the

me r c iful hea r t of a giant S uch is the c onfessional
.
box where I trust hundred s of thousands of my

l isteners wil l go this week to c ommune with the
Giant Hea r t of th e Me r ciful Christ as r eveal ed in
the absolving hand of His p riests B ut you say .
by what r ight d o they forgive sins ? R e cal l this

incid ent O ur L ord on c e said to the A p ostl es of
.
His Chu r ch which He said was fo und ed on Pete

, r
“
and wo ul d end ure to th e end of time : Whose
sins you shal l forgive they are fo r given them ;
”
whos e sins you shal l r etain they a r e r etained .
Now r eflect : I f it we r e not for the c onfession al

box of the C athol ic Ch urch thes e wo r d s of Ou r ,
Lor d would have no meaning today A nd I c ann ot .

'
bel ieve that word s wh ich give u s sinne r s hop e ,
p ar don and mercy fad ed away on th e Gal il ean

, ,
air floated meaningl ess into space I pr efe r to be

, .
l ieve as ove r
, others bel ieve that Our ,
L ord m eant what H e said ; and that is why the

sweetest words ou r ears ever hea r d are the words
“
of the giant in the l ittl e box : I absolve thee
”
from thy sins .
1 34 TH E ETE R NAL GALILEA N
though at the very beginning they hea r d Him sp eak
of Hi s R esu r r ecton saying that He would in three
days rebuild the temple of His B ody which men
would destroy ; even though they had heard Him
“
say that like another Jonas He would be i n the
”
hea r t of the earth three days and three nights ,
scandal i zed at the very m ention of His death That .
too is why when Holy Week came and death began

, ,
to r aise i ts m enacing hand against H is holy L i fe ,
they d i spe r sed like sheep when the S he p her d is

stru c k Thei r Master w as about to die ! I t would b e
.
the end of their ho p e s ! Juda s felt that sin c e d eath

w ould end His L ife he might even profit by H is
,
death as he h ad profited by His L ife and so he sold

—
,
his Maste r for thi rty silve r coi s a sign that d i vine
n
things are alway s bartered away ou t of al l r elation
to their t r ue worth Pete r Jam es and John wh o
.
, , ,
saw thei r Master when H is f ace shone like the s un
and His garments were as snow now slept i n a ,
garden while H is face was beaded with c rimson

dro p s and His gar m ents were dyed r ed as wine I n .
the four t r ials before the Jewish and R o m an j udges

there was not a single A postle to speak a word in
His defen se A s these trial s m ade history by their
.
inj ustice against Justice Peter warmed himself by

,
a fire
'
and c u r sed and swor e that he neve r knew

,
th e Man !
At the foot of the Cross only the A postle John ,
was present James his brother was not the r e !

”
.
, ,
N either w a s Peter ! A nd they were not there be ,
cause they thought all was lost A s the last drops .
of r edem p tion s p illed ou t from the Br oken Chali c e of
R ed emption they were convinced th at it w as only a

,
TH E E TE RNAL GALI LEAN 1 35
m atter of m inute s until H is L ife would end I n the .
unea rthly darkness when the su n hid its face at the

pass i ng of L ight the friend s at the foot of the
,
C r oss whi sp er ed that He was dying A moment la .
ter they sighed that He w as dead A ll seemed lost ! .
The grave w as about to dem and its tribute Death .
had w on its victo r y .
And as the lengthing shadow s of th r ee crosses

ca st thei r siniste r broo ding sadnes s over the r e
treating figures m any a man and wom an in J er u sa
,
lem that day to ok away sweet memor ies of Him for

‘
more flowers a re scattered at our death than at ou r

living. They loved Him—there was no doubt of
that ; but it was with that kind of love which shrinks
from showing itself in the sacrifice of a cross .
The A postles kept the m em ory of a beautiful

kingdom which like Moses it seemed they were to , ,
see with their mind s eye but never to enter N ow

’
.
,
that death had come and life had gone back to thei r ,
nets and their boats they would go Three yea r s .
before the G reat Master had called them away f r om

fishing to be fishers of men Now that Hi s flame had .
died away at the mo m ent they were about to be

,
lighted by it they would once m ore become fishers

,
of fish What more had they to ho p e fo r ? Had not

.
He Who they hoped would r estore the throne of

David died on a tr ee with only thorns for a c r own
, ,
nails for sceptre and His Own Blood fo r royal

,
purple ? The r e was j ust one wo r d to express their

‘
attitude a h u m an w ord with a human implication

, ,
and with a horizon n o broader than that on which

the su n sets : Christ is d ea d !
Now let u s conte mplate another scene some days
—
afterwards possibly a week Many things had .
ha pp ened in the meantime The high pr iest had .

136 TH E ET E R NAL GALI LEA N
retu rned to his Judgment S eat Pilate to hi s basin ,
of wa te r and the fishe r m en to thei r n ets

,
I t w as .
evening ; the lake w as fl ecked with white as th e

stars d an ced upon it and the moon sent down its
,
rays like silve r grappling hooks to move its tides and

all the su r ge s of the seas Seven followe r s of the
.
Lord w ho never c ould forget the Unforgettable

gathe r ed about the little ha r bor of Caph arnau m .
Thei r b oat s with their slanting sails wo r n seats , ,
a
and high r ed r udders we r e to them l i ke anothe r
,
:
home I t seemed as if fi shing might be good now

. ,
that they had turned from men to fish and from

ea rth to sea for thing s to catch S im on w h o w as .
,
named Pete r the R ock by the Master called down ,
the shore s to Tho m as N athaniel Jam es John and

, , , ,
“ ”
tw o others and said : I go a fishing
, And they an .
“
swer ed b a c k an d t he hills e c hoed it again :
, We als o
”
come w i th thee The y went into the boat p ut off
.
, ,
lab or ed all the night and c aught nothing At ea rl y .
mo r n as the sun b egan to c r imson the Galilean mo u n

,
t ain they started to r ow to sh ere A nd as they c am e

, .
nea r they saw a man standing on the sho r e who seem

ed to be wait i ng for them but they knew not w ho it
,
was His voi c e rang out like a silve r t r u mp et as

.
“ ”
He called them : Children have you an y meat ? ,
“ ”
A nd they an swered : No .
“
H e saith to them : Cast the net on the r i ght side
'
”
of the sh i p and you shall find They c ast their net
,
.
and in sta ntly were scarcely able to d raw it in

be c ause of the m ultitude of fishes A nd th ey all .
began to tremble as the memory of other day s awoke

“ ”
within them I t is the L ord whispered John to
.
,
Peter ; and instantly the war m hearted enthusiast -

,
tightening his fi sh er stunic round his loins (for he

’
w as naked ) leaped into the sea swa m across t h e ,

13 8 TH E ETE R NAL G ALILEA N
hands and another shall gird thee and lead thee
,
,
”
whithe r thou wouldst not .
Briefly O ur L ord was telling Peter love is not a

,
love of earthly life bu t a love of death ; that is he

,
,
would love the Cross as the Maste r had I n effect . ,
“
He w as saying : B ecause I love you they killed me ;
yet for your love of me they will kill you Th e r e
,
.
ward of you r labors will be two cr ossbea m s and

—
four nails as I h ad but also life eternal
”
Many .
y ear s w ould pass before Peter would be so girded ,
and before he would recognize hi m self as so u nw or

thy of h is Master that he would ask to be crucified
upside d own ; but fro m now on Peter understood
something Ma r y Magdalene Mary His Mother the
.
, ,
othe r A postles understood it too I t w as the trem en

.
dous lesson of the R esurrection that every followe r

of Christ would mnd er stand until the end of the
world the lesson that m eant unlearning all the w is

,
dom the world ever taught and ever will teach ; and
’
that lesson whi ch still thrills ou r heart s to d ay is

that : I t was not Christ Who died —it was D ea th
, ,
The R esur r ection was a fact He said He w ould

.
rise again and He did ris e again ! R esu rr exit sicu t

,
dixit! Oh think not Peter and the apostles wer e the

,
victim s of a delusion ; thin k not they had an hallu c

ination and m v
i stook their su bj ect e ideas for th e
manifestation of the Conquero r of Death A ll those .
wh o saw the One Whom they thought dead walk in

v
,
the newness of life had to be con inced ; They

,
were not even expecting a resurrection The ab .
sence of the A postles at the crucifixion and the other

f a cts I have mentioned p r ove they th ought death
ended all On E aste r morning the w omen went to
.
the sepulchre not to meet the R isen Ch r ist but to ,
embalm the body ; th e greatest wo r r y was who would

TH E ETE R NAL G ALI LE A N 39
roll away the stone fr o m the doo r of the sepulch r e ;

even when they found it rolled away they did not ,
suppose a resurrection but only a shameful theft

,
of the body The message of the angel inspired

.
them not with faith but with fea r and h orro r

,
.
The A po stles had the sam e state of —

mind the
one thing they were afraid of was an hallucination .
Hence when the women ann ounced the resurrection ,
instead of being im p ressed th ey regarded thei r

,
”
words as idle tales and believed them not
“
Pete r .
and John v e rified the em pty tomb but still n ot ,
knowing the Scripture about the R esurrection Why . ,
they were so far away fro m the idea of seeing Him

up set the hu man concept of death that when they
fi r st saw Him ther eafte r they thought they had seen
a ghost ; Mary Magdalene thought He w as the ga r
dener and the di sciples on the way to E mmaus d i d
—
,
n t
o r e c ognize H im until the breaking of b r ead and
when they told the other disciples they were not b e

v
,
lie ed When He appeared in Galilee Matthew tells

.
,
u s that some doubted The very evening of the Re

.
su rrection some of His Ap ostles w ould not even be

lieve their own eyes until they saw H im eating .
Thomas even then doubted and w ould n ot be con

v inced until he p ut his finge r into His hand and his ,
hand into the divine si d e to be cured of his doubt

,
and made the hop e and healer of agn ostics until the
end of time .
I f the followers were expecting H im they would ,
have believed at once If they did finally believe

.
,
it was only because the sheer weight of exte r nal

evidence was too strong to resist They had to be .
convinced and they we r e convin c ed They had to

admit their views on death were wrong—Christ w a s
, .
14 0 TH E ETE R NAL GALILEAN
not dead Life then doe s not mean what men call
.
life Hen c e the world and its ideas had to be re

made—for here was a fo rc e greater than nature ! N a
.
tu r e had not fin i shed he r accounting with Him for

v
,
natu r e r eceived the only se r ious blo w it ever r ecei

cd—the mo r tal wound of an e m pty to m b E nem ies .
had not finished thei r accounting with Him forthey ,
wh o slew the F oe foun d they h ad l ost the day H u .
manity has not finished its accounting for He came ,

’
from a st r anger s grave to show the breast where a
R oman spear had forever made visible the Heart
which loved men enough to die for them and then
live on in o r de r to b e able to love them eterna lly .
The human mind had not finished its last accounting ,
for it now had to lear n that what men call life is

only death that bodily life is not true life that he
, ,
w h o gives up h is sou l ruins also the flesh which

w
a
houses it that if we are to sa ve ou r life we must lose

,
it and whosoeve r shall lose his life for His sake

,
I n a word it was not Chris t Who

—i w
shall find it , .
died t as D ea th .
Think for th e
moment on the conduct of the
[
Ap ostle s before the R esurrection and the way they ,
acted when the Spirit gave them the fulness of belief

in the R is en Saviour What new force so trans .
form ed thei r s ouls as to make the abj ect the vene r

ated the ignorant masters ; the egotists devoted ;
, ,
and the desp airing sa ints ? What powe r w a s it that

,
laid hold of Peter wh o once said he knew not the

man and w ho now before a learned audience of
, ,
Pa rthians and Medes and E la m ites of Mesopotam ,
i ans of Phrygians and E gyptian s and R om ans aris

, ,
es to startle thei r hearts and thrill their souls with

“
the message : Th e auth or of life you killed ” “
Do
p enance and be baptized every one of you i n the
,
42 TH E E TE R NAL GALILE AN
that is the le sson of E aster Day which they preach
ed : I t w as not Christ W h o died —it was D ea th .
The cycle s of the years whirl away into histo r y ,
but it was eve r the sa m e antiphon that went u p

from the heart s of m en E ach age r epeated it in its
.
ow n way so that no generation of m en was without
the tiding s of v i ctory .
See how that lesson was verified as the foll owe rs

of the R isen Christ taught R o m e the real reason
why she w as E ter nal Hardly yet grown to he r

.
“
full st ature N e r o published his fam ou s edi ct : Let
,
'
”
there be no Ch r istians A nd his successors with
.
,
no fear of God to r estrain their cruelty and a great

army to administe r it set to work to destr oy the
,
Gospel of the R isen Saviour The swords of the .
executioners blunted with slaughter no longer fitted

, ,
their sheaths ; the wild bea sts satiated with Chr is

tian blood shrank fr om it as if m ore con sciou s of
,
its dignity than those w h o orde red it spilt ; th e

river of the Tiber ran red as if already one of the
angel s of the A pocalypse had p oured into it the vial
whi c h turns waters into blood F r om a thousand .
times a thousand th r oats there came the cry,

“ ”
Ch ri stians must die as a thousand ti m e s a thous
,
and thu m bs turned down in signal of death A day .
fi nal ly came when R om e thought it had cut off the

.
l ast hand that would make the Sign of the Cross and
s i l enced the last tongue that would breathe the name
of the risen Christ And yet what is the verdict of
.
hi story ? The ve r dict of history is the verdict of the

empty tom b I t was the sam e antiphon struck on a
.
di fferent key I t w as not the Christian s w h o died

. .
I t was the R oman E mpire I t wa s not Christ Who

—it
.
died was d ea th .
TH E ETER NAL G ALILEAN 43
Co me close r to our ow n t i mes and see E aste r on ce

mo r e proclai m ing its les son when men wo uld dare
,
for get even the name The end of the nineteenth c en

.
tur y marked the gr eat u p ward cl imb of man divor ced

fro m God E very one of the sacred truths taught
.
by the Church sinc e the first E aster Day w a s pre

-
sumed to have been dissolved by the acids of m od

‘
ernity God was reduc ed to a mental symbol and

’
.
then ex planed away psychologically ; man was r e

d u ced to an ani m al an d then explained away bio
logically ; life was r educe d to chem icals and then
explained away mechanically The supernat u ral .
was m ade synonym ous with the superstitious the

m ystical was identified with the unreal; Christ was
considered a mere social refor m er like B uddha and
“
Confucius ; the Chu r ch w as called a sect ; and man

was believed to be on the way to being a God .
B ut j ust at that mo m ent when the w orld boasted

,
of its superior organizatio n and its faith in the

—
,
i
material and ts doubt in the spiritual j ust at that
very second when it was said the death of the Church
marked the beginning of the mode rn world—the
crust of the earth seem ed to crack as hell came to
the surface in the World War Science which was .
,
supposed to be an ally of man becam e his en emy ; ,
man who was taught he w a s only a b east acted like

, ,
one ; souls that were counted as straw we r e now

, ,
blown like chaff across the battle fields of b l ood ;

God Who was denied now left man to god lessn es s
, ,
whose othe r nam e is death .
A nd finally when the s m oke of battle had c l eared

away and the long range guns w ere beaten into
,
plowsha r es and the living ma de an invent ory of

,
the dead it was dis covered tha t men had failed ;

,
14 4 TH E E TE R NAL GALILEA N
that governm ents had failed ; that institutions had
failed There was only one thing that d id n ot fail
.
.
I t was the Church and its unwavering loyalty to the

.
D i vinity of Christ The anti p hon of E aster was

ringing again I t was not the Church which died
.
it was the modern World I t wa s not Christ Who

—
.
died it was d ea th ’
N ow ente r into your ow n personal lives Y ou

v
.
have heard the 0 1ce of the E ternal Galilean calling

to your ow n heart as abys sof goodness cri eth unto
,
abys s of need and beckoning you on to His Way

, ,
His Truth and His L ife I n a mo m ent of silence

, . . ,
p e rhaps He whispered to you that truth is in His

,
'
Church ; in a passing prayer He called you to greater

prayerfulness B ut you felt it would seem to be
.
the end of your rea son if you accepted if you em ,
braced the word of Chri st in its fullness ; that it

,
would be a lowering of your self respect if you knelt -
for forgiveness ; and th at it would be torture to give

up the wo r ld for deepe r and longer praye r s Then
v
.
finally you took the great step and made the g r eat ,
ad enture Y ou entered the Church you confessed

.
,
your sin s you perfected you r spiritual life and lo

, ,
and behold in those moments when you thought you

,
were losing everything you found everything ; when

you thought you were going into your grave you ,
wer e walkin g in the newness of life ; and when you

thought you were in th e dark you were in the blaze
of the L i ght of God The whole expe r ience of con
.
version confession sanctifi cation seemed in the

‘
, ,
v
beginnin g only death ; but it was only a new
e r se to an old tun e It w as the antiphon of .
the E m pty Tomb struck on the chord s of you r hea rt

b y the finge r s of God I t was not you who died .
146 TH E E T ERNAL G ALILE AN
ou r selves humbled We have foun d no welcoming
’
sh ade by quiet water s where ou r bodie s could r e

,
pose and ou r minds could be at rest We are always .
seeking but neve r finding ; always knocking and

never being admitted ; always learning and neve r
coming to a knowledge of truth There is only one .
experiment that modern man has not definitely

tried and that is the love not of Jesus the Teache r
, , ,
Jesus the Social R eform er Jesu s the Hu m anitarian

, ,
but of Him Wh o is true God and true Man One L ord ,
and S aviour Jesus Christ So m ewhere on earth His

, .
unerring absolute Truth still abides ; s omewhere on

earth His Divine L ife flows out into hearts like
fresh springs from an E ternal Fountain So m e .
where on earth H is C alvary is prolonged through

space and time as other Mothers raise up othe r
John s to stand beneat h a cross and swing it in bene
diction in the direction of E den s four fold ri er ’
- v
.
Somewhere Chr i st lives loves and teaches Where

, , .
that beautiful somewhere i s I shall disclose in my ,
next br oad ca st on N ovember fou rth when I begin a

new ser ies on the Mystical Body of Ch r ist .
B ut for the present let me assure you that I

,
have had only one purpose in m ind during these

past four months n am ely to m ake the E ternal Gali
,
lean better known and loved as the S on of God I f .

,
therefore a ny word of mine h a s like a seed sprouted

, , ,
an aspiration in but one single soul ; if any thought ,
carried on the invi sible winds of radio has fanned ,
a spark of prayer into a flam e of devotion ; if any

phrase has stirred a well spring of your soul to r ise
-
and run mur m uring into t he great sea of the love
of G od ; if any sentence has m ade your heart unfold
itself like the petal s of a lotus and then drink in

the dew of sa n ctify ing grace ; i f any sermon has
TH E E TE R NAL GALILEAN 147
m ade one single sinner climb up Calvary and the r e

,
like the rocks under the C r os s split wide o p en for

the d r aughts of forgiveness which pour from the
'
Cros s ; in a word if all the time labor and love

, , ,
that went into all of these discourses did nothing

other than make one simple heart follow the beck
oning rays of the sanctuary lam p to m ake a single
visit whi ch otherwise would not have been paid to ,
the E ucha r istic Prisoner of L ove then I shall not

,
have labored in vain then I shall not h ave spoken in

,
vain That is how much a soul is worth That is

. .
how much Christ matters

'
I f I have done this write me a word assu r ing me

,
that you will breathe my nam e in p rayer ; i f I have

not done this then pray for me all th e mo r e that
, ,
next seaso n when I r etu rn I may not blush at havi ng

,
empty hands to show my L ord .
God bl ess you !

CAR D INAL H A YE S S TA TE S A I M
OF T HE CA T H O LI C H O U R
(E x tract fro m his ad dre s s at the in au gura l pro gra m in the

stud i o o f th e N at i o nal B oad c a s tin g C o mp any New r ,
Yo k C ity M a c h 2
r , r ,
Ou r co n gratu lations and our gr at itude are ex ten de d t o the

N ati on al Co un cil of C a th o li c Men and it s ofiicials and t o all ,
wh o by th eir fi n an ci al s u pp o rt h ave ma d e it p o ss ib l e t o u s e
, ,
thi s offer o f th e N ati onal Br o ad ca stin g Co mp an y Th e heavy .
ex p ens e of m anagin g and fin an c in g a weekl y pro gram its ,
mu s ic al nu mb er s it s s p e ak er s th e s ub s e q u en t ans we rin g of
, ,
in quirie s mu s t b e met
, .
Thi s rad i o h our i s for all th e p e op le o f the Un ite d S tate s .
To ou r fell ow citi z ens in th i s wor d o f d e di cati on we wi sh to

-
, ,
exp r e ss a c ordi al gr eetin g and in d ee d c on gra tulation s For , , .
th i s ra di o h our i s one of service t o A m eri c a whi ch certa inly ,
will li s te n in inter e s te dly a nd even s ym p ath eti cal ly I am , ,
s u re to th e v o i ce of th e an cien t Chur ch with i ts hi st ori c

,
b a ckgro un d o f all th e c enturie s of the C hri s t ian era and w

,
with it s own not ab le c on trib uti on t o th e di s co very ex p lo ra

.
,
ti on fo un d ati on and growth o f ou r gl ori ou s c o untr y

, .
Thu s t o vo i c e b ef ore a va s t p u b li c th e Cath o li c Church i s

no li ght t as k Ou r p r a yer s wil l b e with thos e wh o ha ve that
.
ta s k i n han d We feel ce rtain tha t it will h av e b o th the

.
goo d will and th e go od wi sh e s of th e gre at maj ori ty of ou r

c o u ntryme n S urely th er e i s no tru e l over o f our C o u ntry
.
,
wh o d o e s no t e ag erly h o p e for a le ss wo rl d ly a l e ss materi al , ,
and a m o r e sp i rit u a l s t an d a r d a m on g ou r p e o p l e .
With goo d will with k in dn e ss and with Chri st like sympa

,
-
thy for all th i s work i s in augur ate d S o m ay it co ntin ue

, . .
S o m ay it b e fu lfi lle d T h is wor d o f d e d ic at i o n vo ices th ere

.
,
for e the h op e that th i s rad io ho ur may se r ve t o make kn own

, ,
t o ex p lai n with the ch arit y of Chri s t ou r faith wh ich we

‘
, ,
l ove eve n a s we l ove Chri s t H imse lf May it s erve t o ma ke

b etter un d er st o od that faith as it re all y i s—a li ght reve aling
.
th e p athway t o h e ave n : a s tren gth and a p ower divine ,
thr o ugh Chri st : p ard on ing ou r sins ele va tin g con se crating , ,
ou r c o mm on e v e ry d ay du tie s and j o y s -
brin gin g not only ,
ju sti ce bu t gl a dn e ss and p e ace t o bu r s ear ch in g and qu e s

tioning hear ts .
CATH O L I C H OU R RADI O ADD RE SS E S
I N P A M P H LE T FO RM
O U R S U N D A Y V I S I TO R i t h e u t h o i e d p u b l i h e of a ll s a r z s r
CA T H O L I C H O U R a d d e e in p a m p h let fo m T h e ad dre s r ss s r sse
p bl i h e d t d te ll f wh i c h t i ll v i l ble l i te d b l w
.
u s o a a o ar e s a a a a re s e o
O th e w ill b e p u b l i h e d t h ey d el iv e e d
, .
,
rs s as are r .
T h e D iv
“ i ne R m nce b y Re v D F lt n J S h een 80 pag . o a
"
r. u o e
nd c v e S i ngle c py 2 0 p tp i d I n qu nti ti e
. . ,
,
by R v
a o r. p o1 00 0 os a . a s, er .
l O de M y th M th
,
Th “
M e nd ora f J
r u r
"
a
“
ar e o er o es s,
"
e
Dr G e g e J h n n 64 p g e nd c ve S i ngle c py 1 5 p tp i d
l .
,
or o so a s a o r. o c os a
I n qu n t i ti e
.
. , ,
a p 1 00 s, er .
A T i l gy
“
n P ye b y Re v T h m F B u k e C S P
r
” o o ra r, o as r
32 p g e nd c v e Si n g le p tp i d I n qu ntit e
. . .,
. , .
py 1 0 co os a i s,
a00
s a o r. , c a .
p er
T h e S t y f th B ib le b y R V D F n c i L K ee n n 64
.
“ " ’
ra a
or o e e r. s
nd c ve S i n g le c py l 5 o p tp i d I n qu nti ti e , . . ,
o os a s,
foo
p g a e a o r. ; a .
p er
F u R eli gi us F u nd e
“
o r by Rev D F nc i J C nneli
o o r s,
"
r. ra s o
Re v B e ned i ct B d le y 0 S Re v T h m M
t O M C p nd R vE
.
. ,
R vS i gm n d G
C SS R ra o a s:
S c hw e tn
. . ., .
, . . . .
‘
0 r P er , e u ra z, a a e
J A h e n S J 5 6 p g e nd c ve S i ngle c py l 5 p tp i d I n
. .
, . . .
, . .
r a s a o r. o o os a
qu n ti t i e
. , . . .
, ,
a p 1 00s, er
p h il phy f c at h l i c Ed u c t i n by Re v D Ch l L
.
“ "
Th e os o o o a o r. ar a
32 p ge d c ve S i n gle c py 1 0 p tp i d , . .
O D nn ll C S C
’
o e a s an o r. o c os a
I n qu n t i t i
. . .
, .
, ,
a p 1 00e s, er
C h i t i ni ty nd t h e M d e n M i nd by Rev J h n A M
.
“ "
‘
r s a a o r o e
64 p g e nd c v e S i n g le c p y 1 5 p tp i d I n , . .
Cl y S or e J a s a o r. o c os a
qu n t i t i e
. . .
, , ,
1 00
Th e M l L w by R vJ m e M G i ll i C S P 8 8 p ge
a p s, er .
“ "
o ra a e a s s, a s
nd c v e S i ng le c p y 2 5 p t p i d I n qu nt i ti e
Q .
, . . . .
,
a o r. p o1 00 , c os a . a s, er .
Ch i t C h u c h ” b y R t Re v M g J e ph M C i
“
nd H i r s a s r s r. os orr
g n 8 8 p ge nd c ve S i n gle c py 2 5 p tp i d I n qu nti ti e
, . . .
a , a s a o r. o , 0 os a . a s,
p 1 00 er .
“
Th e M k f t h e C h u c h b y R D J n“ K C tW fl gh t
ar s o r
"
GV r. o ar
is p nd c ve S i g le c py l 5 o p tpai d I n qu n ti t i e , h
n
lg
a o
g
s a r. o , os . a s,
p er
Th e O g ni t i n nd G ve n m e nt f t h e C h u c h b y Rev
“
r a za o a o r o r
"
nci J C n ell C S S R 48 p g e nd c v e S i ngle c py

, .
D Fr. ra s o n a s a o r. o
p tp i d I n qu n ti ti e
.
, . . .
, ,
l5 o os a .
p 1 00 a s, er .
M l F c t in E c n mi c L i f e ” b y Rev D F nc i J H
“
o ra a o rs o o r. ra s aa s
n d Re v Dr J h n A Ry n 32 p g e nd c v e S ingle c py 1 0 , . .
a o a a s a o r. o c
p tp i d I n qu nt i ti e
. . .
, ,
1 00
D iv
os a .
p a s, er .
i ne H elp f M n by Rev Dr E dw d J W l h C M
“
s or a
"
ar a s
1 04 p g e nd c v e S i n gle c py p tp i d I n q ntiti , . . .
, . .
,
a s a 30 o r. o , 0 os a . ua e
p 1 00 er .
T h e P b le b y Rev J h n A M Cl y S J 12 8 p g
“
a ra s,
"
o c or e a es
nd c v e S i ngle c py 3 5 p tp i d I n qu nt i ti e
. . . .
, ,
a o r. p o1 00 er
C iv
0 os a . a s, .
C h i t i ni t y C nt i b u t i n t b y Rev J m
,
“ '
ili t i n
* "
r s a s o r o 0 za o a es
9 6 p ge nd c ve S i ngle c p y 2 5 p tp i d , .
M G illi
'
c C S P s, a s a o r. o c os a
I n qu n t i t i e
. . . .
, ,
a p 1 00 s, er .
M ni f e t t i n
“
a f Ch i t s a b y Re v Dr F u lt n J S h ee n 1“
o s o r s
"
o
nd c ve S i ng le c py s5 p tp i d I n qu ntiti
, . . . ,
p ga e
foo
a o r. o , e os a . a es ,
p er
Th
n d c ve
e W “
y f t h e C ” bay Re v D F u lt n J S h ee n 3 2 p g e
o ros s , r. o a !
ye b k i e ) S i ngle py l 5 o p tp i d I n .
. .
a o r ra r oo s z co os a
q n tit i e
. .
,
ua 00 p 1 00s, . er .
Ch i t T d y by V e y Rev Dr Ign tiu S m i t h 0 P 48

“ "
r s o a r a s
nd c v e S i ngle c py l 5 o p tp i d I n qu nt i t i e
, . . , . .
,
a
[ g
lg
es a o r. p o , os a . a s, er
o
T h e C h i t i n F mi ly b y Re v Dr E dw d L dg C “ ‘3
“
r s a a
"
ar o e u rr
n d c ve S i ngle c py 2 0 p tp id I n quan titi
, . . .
:g l oo
g es a o r. o c os a . es,
,
l
Th e Du bli n E u c h i t i c C ng e
“ b y H i E minennce 1W ar s ill i m o r ss s a
C d i n l O c n n ell A n dd’
e eb a d c t f m D u bl i 2 paag r ss r ro as ro es
c e le c py p tp d t t e
ar a o ,
v i g i qu i i
.
nd S on r. 1 0 I n n o p 100 c os a a s, er .
a .
l C t h l i c A c t i n by Rev Dr E dg S h mi d enl i i O
,
Ru “ e er ,
"
ra a o o ar c .
2 4 p ge nd c ve S i ngle c py 1 0 p tp id I n qu t t e
. .
,
c os a a s,
S B . .
, a s a o r. o ,
.
p 1 00 er
el t e by Re J e p l
.
R i “ i n n d H u m n o N u a v D h Aa D y a r
"
r. os a
40 p g e nd c ve S i n gle c py tp i d I n qu n ti tie
,
g
l5 o p
. .
,
a o r. o os a a s,
a s ,
.
p 1 00 er
Th e C h u c h nd S me O u t t nd i ng P b l m f t h D y
.
"
“ o s a ro e s o e a
r a
by Rev J e I C ig n S J 72 p g e nd c v e S ingle c py
,
on s or r a a s a o r. o
zo p tp i d I n qu nti ti e
. ,
. .
,
o os a p 1 00 a s, er .
C nfl i c t i ng S t nd d by Rev J m e M G i ll i C S P 80
.
“ a
"
a s s,
o ar s,
p g e nd c v e S i ngle c p y 2 0 p tp i d I n qu nt i ti e
. .
. . . ,
a s a o r. o , c os a . a s,
p er 1 00
Th e H y m f t h e C nq u e ed by Rev Dr F u lt n J S h ee n
.
“ ” n o o r o
12 8 p g e nd c ve S i ng le c py 3 5 p tp i d I n qu n t i ti e
, . . . ,
a s a o r. o , c os a . a s,
per 1 00
Th e S eve n L t W d by Re v Dr F u lt n J S h een (p y
.
“ "
ra
as or s, o
b k i e ) 32 p ge nd c v e S i ngle c py l 5 o p tp i d I n
. . .
ar - oo s z a s a o r. o os a
qu n t i t i
.
, ,
a p es ,1 00 er .
Th e C h u c h nd t h e C h i ld by Re v Dr P l H F u fey 48
“
r a
"
au r
md c v e S i ngle py l 5 o p tp i d I n qu n t i ti e , . . . . ,
p g a e co
fog
o r. , os a . a s,
L v e V e i le d V i ct y nd L v
p er
“
e L w b y Re v Dr G e ge
F St h v S J
’ ’ " '
o s or a o s a s, or
48 p g e d c ve S i n g le c py l 5 o p tp i d
. .
l ro a er , a s an o r. o os a
I n qu n t i t i e
. .
. ,
a p 1 00 s, er
R el i gi nd L i t u gy by Rev D F n c i A W l h 0 S B
.
“ "
on a r r. ra s a s
d c ve S i g le c py 1 0 p tp i d I n qu nt i ti e
.
, . . , . .
,
32 p g s an n
lg
a o
g
r. o , 0 os a . a s,
p er
Th e L d P ye T d y by V e y Rev D Ig n tiu S m i th
“
or
'
s ra r o a
"
r r. a s
64 p g e n d c ve S i n gle c py l 5 o p tp i d I n qu n t i ti e , . .
D P. ., a s a o r. o , os a . a s,
p 1 00 er .
nd R e d e m pt i n by Rev D Ign tiu W C

“
G d M n o a a o
"
r. a s ox ,
64 p g e nd c v e S i ngle p y l5 o p tp i d I n qu nti
.
, , .
S J a s a o r. co os a a
tie h und ed
. ., .
,
s, p er r .
Th i M y te i u H u m an N t u e b y Rev Ja m e M G i ll i
“
s s r o s a r
"
s s,
S P 48 p ge d c ve S i n gle c py l 5o p tp i d I n , . .
C a s an o r. o os a
qu n t i ti e
. . ., .
,
a p 1 00s, er .
Th e E t e l G l ile n ” by Rev D F u lt n J S h ee n 1 60 p ge
“
r na a a r o a s
n d c ve S i n gle c p y 50 p t p i d I n qu n t i ti e
, . . . ,
1 00
Th e Q u ee n f S e v
a o r. o p c os a a s, er .
e n S w d by Rev Dr F u lt n J Sh n
.
,
“ " l ee
o or s, o
(p y b k i e ) 3 2 p g e nd c ve S ingle c py l 5 o p tp i d
. . .,
ra er - oo s z a s a o r. o os a
I n qu n t i t i e
, .
,
a p 1 00 s, er
Th e C t h l i c T c h i ng n O I nd u t i l S y te m b y R t
.
“ "
a o ea o ur s r a s
Rev M g J h n A Ry n 3 2 p g e nd ve S i ngle c p y , .
s r. o a a s a co r. o
10 p tp i d I n qu n ti ti e
. .
, ,
os 1 00
Th e H pp i ne f F it h by R vD n i el A L d S J 8 0
c a .
p a s, er .
“ "
a ss o a e a or
nd c ve S i g le c py 2 0 p t p i d I n qu n ti ti e , . , , . .
,
p g a es a o r. n o , 0 os a . a s,
l oo
by R vP t J B e gen
p er
Th e lv t i
“
S n f H u m an S c i e ty
a
” o o a o e e er r
S P 4 8 p ge n d c ve S i ng le c py l5o p tp i d I n ) .
'
C a s a o r. o os a
qu n ti t i e
. . ., .
,
a p 1 00
s, er
F i t h b y Rev V i ncen t F K i nb g O P 4 8 p g e nd
.
“ ” a e er er , a s a
c ve S i ngle p y 1 5 p tp i d I n qu n ti ti e
, . . . .
,
o r. Co , pc 1 00 os a . a s, er
C t h li c E du c ti n by Re v Dr G e g e J h n 40
.
“
a o
” a o or o n so
p ge nd c ve S i gle c py l 5 o p tp i d I n qu nt i t i e , . .
,
a s a o r. n o os a
hu d ed , . a s,
p er n r
T h e C h u c h nd H M i i n b y Rt Rev W i ll i m Q uinn
.
“ "
r a er ss o s, a
32 p ge nd c v e S i ngle c py 1 5 p tp i d I n qu n ti t i e
. .
,
P A . .
, a s a o r. o , c os a . a s,
by R vJ m e M G i lli
1 00 p er
Th e h u c h the ep e i
.
“
C n d D r n
” a r ss o e a s
p ge nd c v e zo p tp i d I n qu n ti ti e , , . . s,
a s a o p r, o os a . a s, er
n
u re
A ddress : O UR S U NDA Y VI S IT OR Huntington Indiana , ,

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THE

Univ er s i ty of Lo uva i n Bel giu m ; ,

C ath ol i c U niv ersity of A me ri c a .

F i fteen a ddr ess es del iver ed in the Ca tholi c H ou r sp onsor ed ,

b y th e N a ti ona l C ou nci l o f C a thol ic M en wi th the ,

coo p era tion o f the Na tiona l B r oa dca sting Com

(O n S und a ys from De c e mber 2 4, 19 3 3 to A p ri l 1,

l . The Inﬁ nity of Li ttleness

III The A rti san of N a z a r eth

IV The War With Te m ptati on

V . The Wa y th e T ru th and the Li fe , ,

VI The Li ght of th e World

V III G od s B rid ge B ui lder

X II Th e Cr oss es of H at e and Lov e

X III The Cross and the Cruc i ﬁ x

X V The Eternal G a l i lean

A dvoc ate of inner s at the Triun e Thr one

D a ugh te r of the F athe r M othe r of th S on S p ou e

This i s Chri stm a s eve ! I n tens of thousand s of

forests into p arlor s in the form of tree s ; the chil

about their toy s : the ver y atmos p here is ch ar g ed

ex chan ge hearts soften E veryw here there I S a new

spirit a new life a new hope a new j oy !

But W hat is it about Why are people m ak

ing mer ry ? Why call this a se ason of j oy ? There

W e shoot off ﬁrecr a ckers on the Fourth of July b e ,

c ause that is the day we cel ebr ate th e sh ot of

understand why we a re silent for a few mo m ents on

the heroes of our battleﬁelds I can understand a .

man making a great fe ast bec a use he ha s come into

his fortune is only a j oke .

Now if this i s not the d ay on which our S a viour

is not the day of Christ the King of H ea rts then ,

ou r fun is only a fu ss I f you saw a man on the

street laughing hilariously tears of j oy running ,

down h is cheeks and all the while no re a son for his

laughter you would think the man w a s out of his

head He would be rej oicing without a reason for

rej oicing which is a sign of in sanity A nd so I say

if this is not the day on which God left the heaven s

rea son for being gla d on Christmas eve than there

Christmas does n ot me a n Christ then why are we ,

merry on this day any more th an on the ﬁfth of

the festival decorating the town for a victor y which

ne ver took place and bringing gift s to a marriage

festival which is really only a divorce .

I know why I am glad t oday ; I know why mil

brating a ma rri age—a marri age so solemn and per

manent as to be the only one the world will ne ver

That great mass of people in our land w ho are

being merry because it is a fa shion rather th an be

Christmas and log burning with an I ncarnation I n

varying degrees we all mis s the full import of the

is a nother word for being humble There is only .

one way in which we dis c over anything big and ,

that is by being little There is only one spiri t by

which we can di scover the imm ense God and that is ,

the spirit of little children Verify this law ln ex

perience and see how much it is the law of Chris t

I n the physical order h a ve you ever noticed that

i s standing near th e window i s taller than the grea t

oaks d own in the valley E very child loves the story

of J a ck and the bean stalk b ecause for him e v ery