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13 THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC LAYMEN’S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA CLERICAL LIFE—SOME OF ITS SERIOUS AND HUMOROUS SIDES lieve by the very men whom Christ had sent to teach the world. Think of listening to Peter as he told them the story of Naim, or spoke of the scene in Gethsemene, or the Transfiguration, or the raising of Lazarus, or some other of the wonderful things done by our Bless ed Lord. They knew that the Master had given to Peter the charge of the entire flock, and they listened to his words as though they were listening to Christ Himself. And when Peter had died for the faith of Christ they listened to the one who succeeded him, and so as the days and years passed by men were brought to Christ by the messengers, who spoke His name and with the authority which came to them as heirs to the promises and mission given by the Redeemer to His Apostles. And so today we listen to Peter’s successor, who has Peter’s authority and Peter’s mission, and therefore are there so many things in the Church building bring ing back to us the memories of the olden days of Christ’s Church. “Now if the Church has been commissioned by Christ to teach the world how can one who believes in Christ as God think it wrong to accept the messages of those whom He sent to teach? Am I deprived of my freedom when I willingly accept the words of Christ? You think you have in the Bible a command from Christ to ‘search the Scriptures,’ and that you are justified in accepting only what you find therein. Now let us read that passage of the Holy Writ and see what it means. It is found in the Gospel of St. John Chapter V. Our Blessed Lord had cured the man at the pool of Bethsaida on the Sabbath, and the Jews seemed scandalized because it was the Sabbath, and Our Lord took occasion of the cure and their action to speak of His Father and the- testimony of His own works as well as the testimony of John the Baptist to the truth, and He reproached them saying: ‘And you have not His word abiding in you, for Whom He hath sent, you believe not’; then Christ added: ‘Search the Scriptures, for you think in them to have life ever lasting, and the same are they that give testimony of Me’! These words of our Lord were not a command to Christians but a reproach to the Jews. They had the Scriptures and boasted of their possession thinking in them they had everlasting life, and yet they refused to bt lieve in Chriit of Whom the Scriptures gave such clear account. Those outside the Church have the Bible, and it gives such abundant testimony to the Di vine claims of the Catholic Church, yet they will not believe.” Mr. W. sat for a time aaying nothing, and then sud denly spoke: “But why have you not told me why you kneel as you enter the Church?” Christ in the Tabernacle There is hardly time today to enter into a discus sion of this central doctrine of the Church,” I said, but it will suffice to tell you that we kneel when we enter the Church because we believe that there in the Tabernacle is the real and true Presence of our Divine Lord.” Do you mean that Christ is actually present there inside that thing you call the Tabernacle?” “Yes,” I answered, “that’s exactly what all Catholics do be lieve. Why, that is not possible, Father.” I have said already,” I replied, “that we have not the time to give to a discussion of this doctrine of the Catholic Church, now, but I will only ask you now to read with me a part of the sixth chapter of St. John’s Gospel. Here we see that the Jews at Capernaum were in like manner very much surprised and in fact scan dalized, when Christ told them that unless they ate the Flesh of the Son of Man and drank His Blood they would have no life in them; and that His Flesh was meat indeed and His Blood was indeed drink. The Jews were scandalized at these words of our Lord, and they said: How can this man give us His Flesh to eat? In response our Blessed Lord merely repeated what He had said, and added: ‘Unless you eat the Flesh of the Son of Man and drink His Blood, you shall not have life in you.’ They clearly understood Him to mean that they were to eat of His very Flesh and drink of His very Blood. And He never corrected the im pression, and permitted them to leave Him with this understanding of His words. He came to save all men and He should and would have corrected their false impressions, if it were false; but on the contrary He tells them that their salvation depends on their doing that which they declared He could not do, that is giv ing them His Body and Blood as food for their souls. From the earliest days this doctrine of Christ’s Real Presence has been held by all Christians and ever taught by the Church. It comes from the Apostles and is delivered to us by that Society of which the Master says: ‘He who hears you hears Me; and he who will not hear you, will not hear Me.! “You say that you can not believe it? and yet do you not believe that the little Infant who was greeted by the Shepherds on the first Christmas night was the Redeemer of the world and a Divine Person? Assured ly there was nothing to distinguish that Child from any other infant, yet all Christians are bound to believe that He was God. A man who accepts the Incarna tion ought to have no difficulty in accepting the Real Presence. Was there any evidence of the Divinity in that man who staggered through the streets of Jerusa lem under the heavy weight of a cross on the first Good Friday? Was the Divinity so very evident when Christ was nailed to the cross? Did men recognize the Divin ity when the cross was raised and He in an agony pro longed for three hours died thereon? You believe the Christmas story and you acknowledge the Divine char acter of the Victim of Good Friday; but you think that the Real Presence is impossible. In the crib and on the cross the Divinity was hid by Human Veils; in the Blessed Sacrament both Divinity and Humanity are concealed by the Sacramental Veils of Bread and Wine.” A Revelation Mr. W. said: “Father I am going home to think over what you have told me. It seems all so strange to me. I confess I had always heard that the Catholic Church was a corrupt Church, and had put the Virgin and the Saints in the place of Christ, but I am begin ning to think I have been mislead. But, Father, will you tell me how it is that so many thousands of good and sincere Protestants think and say such hard things of your Church?” “Well,” I answered, “do you remember the words of Christ as given by Saint Mathew? Let me read them for you, they are in the tenth chapter: ‘You shall be hated by all men for my name’s sake.* And Saint Mark and Saint Luke report our Lord as saying the self same words; but hear Saint John repeating these further words of His Divine Master, ‘Yea, the hour cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth a service to God.’ I think one can readily un derstand why the teachers sent by Christ are hated and misrepresented. Now, no one can read the hearts of men. If men are sincere and know no better and lead good lives according to the light they have, who shall judge them and condemn them for being inculp- ably in error?” “But,” said Mr. W., why can’t Protesants see the things you told me about today; do such things appeal only to Catholics?” “Well,” I replied, “I am afraid they don't make as strong an appeal as they ought to even to our own people; but these have a strong and abiding faith in the words of Christ and they cheerfully accept the teach ing of the One, Holy Catholic Apostolic Church.” Mr. W. came to see me almost every day after that, and we always talked of the Church and her teaching. I often saw him in the Church going from station to station, and I asked him one day how he learned to make the stations. He did not understand what 1 meant by “making the stations;” and when I explained that beautiful devotion to him he told me he had never had it explained; but he added: “I am going around and looking at the pictures and the altars trying to find (Continued on next page.)