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Inner Life of a Catholic

The Profession of Faith 

CHAPTER TWO

Life In Jesus Christ

2. The Application

For the man to whom this is a vivid truth, clearly it must have an effect on his whole outlook on life. It is true we have described an ideal, and not every man can rise to an ideal; nevertheless, even for the meanest who still believes, the light is before him and shines upon his path. Even here he has something to live for when all else is drab; something far more noble than all this world has to offer, though it offer of its best. It gives to things of the world a new value, a new proportion; it gives to the world itself a totally new perspective. It throws a new light on the tenets of the Christian faith which some men disparagingly call dogmas; it finds a new starting-point for reason itself, adding new arguments, creating new vistas which reason of itself could never have discovered. Let us take, for example, one among many, what the Catholic means by the sacramental life. The sacraments, to him who believes in the indwelling of Jesus Christ, are very much more than the mere ceremonial which is seen from without. They are the ingrafting into the body; they are the joints of the limbs; they are the channels through which the blood of Jesus Christ flows down into the members. Because He Himself has prescribed them and has given to them their efficacy, by their very act the movement of life is started, by them it is increased and fostered. The significance of Baptism gives a new significance, likewise, to all the sacraments that follow. By the simple act, according to His promise, and thanks to nothing of our own, it incorporates us into the body and life of Christ; and the rest, by their simple act, and thanks to nothing of our own, increase the same life within us. Above all is this true of the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist, that which the Catholic fondly calls the Blessed Sacrament. It is the food of the life of the soul. But the life which it goes to feed is no less than that of Jesus Christ living in us, and that life can be fed by nothing less than the living Christ who comes to us. The Catholic needs little stirring to be devoted to the Holy Eucharist. It is his glory, his pledge of the love of God, the daily sustenance of that life within him, which is far more dear to him than the life he lives in the valley of this death. It is the coming of a Friend above all friends, who enters into his very heart, or rather who draws him into a Heart that loves as does none other.—How can the Catholic do otherwise than long that other men should know and glory in this Way, and Truth, and Life, even as he knows it, and glories in it himself?

Nor is it only by way of the sacraments that the Life of Christ within us may grow to more and more. Every act of merit that we do, once we are united by Baptism to Christ, gives us an increase of the life divine, unites us yet more closely to Him. Above all is this true when we live, and move, and act in union with Him; when we let Him direct us, when we seek from His hand the vital motion that we need, when me invite Hum to live in us, and work through us, entirely, so far as that is possible, according to His own will and not ours. Then we know we are truly His members, truly the branches of the vine, that urges its sap through us to fecundity. Then, indeed, when He does His own will in us and through us, He lives in us in a real way; and by every act we do in this union we recognize it more and more: "He who abideth in me, and I in him, he beareth much fruit" (John xv, 5).

This, then, in practical life, as a consequence of Christ's indwelling in him, is the second ideal to which the Catholic would strive to attain. He would keep before him the union between himself and the living Christ, as a fact in itself, to be cultivated more and more. Thus he knows that he will fulfill the first purpose of his being. He will give to God the praise, and reverence, and service that is his first duty; by so doing he will make of himself, both in this world and for the next, the perfect thing that God would have him to be. He would allow no day to pass but he would offer it to his God, in union with Christ who lives in him. He would rise in the morning of each day and would at once unite himself with his Christ, in His company would offer himself to the Father to do the Father's holy will "Hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven," is every true Christian's morning offering. In the rest of his prayer it is Jesus Christ his Lord whom he keeps before himself above all else, his inspiration and his guide. If he makes a meditation, and he makes many a one without knowing it, he looks to His example for his guidance, studies truth and virtue, and the ideals of all manhood as they are expressed in Him, asks Him for light that he may see what is best, for strength to put that understanding into effect. If he would have more, daily Mass is always near him. To assist at daily Mass is to him no extravagance, it is not even a sign of excessive devotion or holiness; it is just a natural act for the man who believes that Jesus Christ his Lord died for him, that he renews the oblation every day upon the altar, that kneeling at the foot of the cross as it is represented there, he can best join in the sacrifice of love, winning pardon for himself, winning the grace and favor of God for all men. Nor is he content only with daily Mass. He knows that there is, for him, if he will have it, daily communion; and those who make use of that offer, in England alone, are, thank God! to be numbered by thousands.

In that communion they begin their day by singing their Magnificat; in it they renew that bond of union with their Master and Lord which at all costs they would preserve; in it they hold converse, the first in the day, with Him whose ear is ever ready to listen; in it they put before Him their needs, and not only their own, but the needs of the whole Church, the needs of all men. They come away from it with another light in their eyes, a new calm in their hearts, a peace which the world cannot give, nor can it take away. Who shall say that a day so begun will be a wasted or a futile day? Who shall say that a nation among whom this is a daily occurrence, is not benefited both in the eyes of God and of man?

Thus would the fervent Catholic begin his day, if not always in fact, at least always in spirit; if he does not or cannot do these things, at least he does not look on his brother or sister who does them as in any way strange or peculiar. Thence he goes out to his daily task. The commonest laborer can carry with him the remembrance, not only that Jesus Christ too, was a working man, but that today He works in him. He may remind himself that even as he labors, at whatever task, he labors no less in union with Christ, a working member of His body, for the universal good. He comes to his meals, he takes his hour of leisure, mindful that He too, ate and drank, was hungry and thirsty and weary, and took His needed rest, sometimes "in a desert place apart," sometimes in a cottage with His friends; that what He did then He does now, in those who are living members of His body. During the day, as may be seen, in any Catholic Church, at almost any hour, and in almost any place, he will think it no strange thing, but only right, that he should call upon his Friend of friends in His own house, hold a minute's conversation with Him, renew with Him their mutual agreement. "Come to me, all ye that labor and are burdened, and I will refresh you," has for him a practical meaning in his daily life; in his hour of need he does not forget Him who "is able to save them that come to God by Him: ever living to make intercession for us" (Heb. vii, 25). If this is at the root of the Catholic's mind, because of its union with Christ, in the ordinary routine of his private life, no less is it at the root of his relation with his neighbor.

Subconsciously, at least, the Catholic cannot lay aside the revelation that Jesus Christ our Lord lives in all men, or longs to live in them if already He is not there; all men, like himself, are or are called to be members of that mystical body which is Christ, to which he himself belongs. Hence he has his own definition of, and attitude towards, authority. He does not forget that of lawful authority his Master said: "He that heareth you heareth me, and he that despiseth you despiseth me" (Luke x, 16); and even of that authority which was unworthy of its trust He could say: "On the chair of Moses have sat the Scribes and Pharisees. All things, therefore, that they shall say to you, observe and do; but according to their works do ye not" (Matt. xxiii, 3). Therefore, in obeying a lawful master, whoever he may be, who commands a lawful act, whatever it may be, he knows that He obeys Jesus Christ our Lord Himself; only when the command is not lawful, when it violates a higher law, must he resist even unto death. He knows, too, that in the act of obeying he is most like to Him who could sum up thirty years of His life in the simple words, "He was subject to them"; and whose whole history is told in those other words: "Made obedient even unto death."

In like manner, with regard to his fellow-man, he holds and follows a principle which is not new, but which, in matter of fact, has transformed the world, has founded our civilization, and which today is being called into question to the jeopardy of all our foundations of society. "Amen I say to you, as long as you did it to one of these my brethren, you did it to me" (Matt. xxv, 40); this, as we have already said, repeated in various forms by the Founder of Christendom, is the key, though we may have forgotten it, to all our present understanding of social life. The Christian has been taught through the ages to see in the meanest of his neighbors his Lord and Master, his beloved Christ, to serve Christ in him, to love him even as he loves himself, nay more, as we have said elsewhere, to love him even as Christ Himself loves him. He remembers St. Paul pleading for Onesimus, the runaway slave, to his master Philemon; he finds it easy, nay, after centuries, it has become natural, to accept the doctrine that among men there is neither master nor slave. The master himself will temper his command when he remembers that his servant is to him as Christ our Lord, "as he that serveth"; the equal will not make it his aim to bring down or overreach his equal, since that equal is to him in the place of Christ. Under that guidance Christianity has always been a religion of mutual service; it has been so marked in the past, it is so marked everywhere today. Let Christianity, let the Catholic Church be fostered, and charity in deed will grow with her; check her, and charity decays, a fact which our British Government knows well, and turns to good account in countries where, without her aid, little or nothing could be done.

And even if we look outside the Christian pale, if we consider those, whether abroad or at home, for whom Jesus Christ our Lord means nothing, the true follower of Christ bears in mind that these come no less within the range of Christ's immeasurable love.

Though they may sin, though they may despise and flout Him, still did Jesus plead for them: "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." Though they flee from Him, though they believe, because so they have been taught, that He is a false teacher, a danger to their freedom and their rights, a misguided leader to-be shunned, to be fought, if possible to be crushed with His following after Him, still does He pursue them with His love, and while they live will not let them go. He would have even them incorporated in Himself, received into His fold. "Other sheep have I, that are not of this fold; them also must I bring." In regard to all these the true follower of Jesus Christ would think as He thinks, would labor as He labors. He knows in this, as in all things, that Christ the King of Man, whose kingdom covers the whole world, whose rights are beyond all question, appeals to him to help Him in the noble work of restoring all things in Him, of making all one in Him, and by prayer, by word, by deed, by example, even, if he be called to it, by giving himself wholly to the task, he offers to the service all that he may. Believing what he does of Jesus Christ, of His mystical body, and longing to include all men in that body, every Christian, if he is true to himself, must needs be an Apostle. "So let your light shine before men that they may see your good works, and may glorify your Father who is in heaven" (Matt. v, 16).

Lastly, in dealing with our enemies, with Jesus Christ a totally new mind has come into the world. Aristotle, as his <Ethics> show, had a-noble concept of man, yet in his attitude to insult and injury he could see no nobility but in justice, as he conceived it, and revenge. Even the Old Testament demanded "an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth." Jesus Christ proposed another standard.

"You have heard that it hath been said: Thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thine enemy. But I say to you: love your enemies; do good to them that hate you, and pray for them that persecute you: that you may be the children of your Father who is in heaven, who maketh his sun to rise on the good and the bad, and raineth upon the just and the unjust. For if you love them that love you, what reward shall you have? Do not even the publicans this? And if you salute your brethren only, what do you more? Do not also the heathen this? Be you therefore perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect" (Matt. v, 43-48).

It was then, and it is today, a lesson hard for human nature to learn, yet did He never flinch in repeating it. And in time human nature understood. It was the last lesson His Apostles grasped, though it had been given to them from the beginning; when it was learnt, then it became the chief lesson they had to teach to others. In that alone the world has found a new light, and a new life, "through Jesus Christ."

"And they stoned Stephen, invoking and saying: Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. And falling on his knees he cried with a loud voice, saying: 'Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.' And when he had said this he fell asleep in the Lord" (Acts vii, 58, 59).

St. Paul and St. Peter are full of the same. "Be not overcome by evil, but overcome evil by good" (Rom. xii, 21).

"For this is thank-worthy: if for conscience' sake towards God, a man endure sorrows, suffering wrongfully. For what giving is it, if, committing sin, and being buffeted for it, you endure? But if doing well you suffer patiently: this is thank-worthy before God. For unto this are ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving you an example, that you should follow his footsteps. Who did not sin, neither was guile found in his mouth.

Who, when he was reviled, did not revile; when he suffered, he threatened not; but delivered himself to him that judged him unjustly. Who his own self bore our sins in his body upon the tree: that we, being dead to sins, should live to justice: by whose stripes you were healed. For you were as sheep going astray: but now you are converted to the shepherd and bishop of your souls" (I Pet. ii, 19-2 5).

All of which St. Paul is able to sum up in his practical, ever-memorable definition of Christian charity, the like of which is to be found nowhere before him: "Charity is patient, is kind; Charity envieth not, dealeth not perversely; is not puffed up, is not ambitious; seeketh not her own, is not provoked to anger; thinketh no evil; rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth with the truth; excuseth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Charity never fadeth away" (I Cor. xiii, 4-8).

Such, we may say, is the working programme of the Christian who looks upon his faith as no more nor less than incorporation in the mystical body of Jesus Christ our Lord. His life is the life of Christ Himself: "For me to live is Christ and to die is gain" (Phil. i, 21). His ideal is to reproduce Him, to let Christ live in him: "I live, now not I, but Christ liveth in me" (Gal. ii, 20). When he recalls that incorporation, and in consequence his own nobility as a veritable adopted son of God, the rest becomes not difficult. He has now another outlook; his horizon has extended beyond the limit of this world.

Everything in this life becomes of less importance in itself: it is chiefly now of value as a means to a greater end, as a means of proving love and service of his Lord. That this love may be developed it must needs be exercised, and it finds its object in man whom Christ also loves. Thus do all his dealings with his fellow-men take on a new significance. To love them as members of the body of Christ is to love Christ Himself, to render them a service is to render a service to Him; and this, he knows full well, will be paid him back a hundredfold in an increase of love, whatever may be its seeming fate here and now. And to love God and our fellow-men even as this—that is the fulfillment of the Law, that is, for him, the perfection of a man, even judged by the standards of this world. There are other ideals: this one may seem to some fanciful and unreal. But it has been taught by One who was the very truth, and who, in the teaching of it, stands alone among men; and it has been lived by millions during nineteen hundred years, it lies today at the back of all that we mean by Christian civilization, as distinguished from every other. It is lived by millions still; and even for those of us who feel that its perfection is too high to be attained by such imperfect creatures as ourselves, even for us it is a glorious light in the distance, to approach to which is a sure line of progress, surpassing every other that man has devised both for ourselves and for the whole human race.

When, then, I ask myself what my Church means to me, I am immediately swallowed up in a greater whole, as a stone in a building, as a branch in a tree, as a limb in a body. My Church is much more to me than I am to myself; she lives more than I do; I live only as a part of her. So absorbing does this become that her thoughts are my thoughts, her ideals are mine, the goal she has before her is my goal; in a real and to me quite natural sense, I live, now not I, but she lives in me. As my hand pays no regard to itself but regards only me to whom it belongs, as it has no life of its own, but only what comes to it from me the living person, so can I, as a Catholic, regard not myself but the body to which I belong, and live, not of myself, but in so. far as I imbibe the life of her who lives independently of me, and whose life's blood flows through me. In her I live, and move, and have my being; so natural has this become to me that I cannot think of myself as myself, except as an isolated creature, a dead and dismembered limb, in which true life is not. My life is her life, my being is her being, she has my love and my service, as I myself have the entire devotion and service of my hand. She is the living organism, I am but an organ; she is the body, I am but a member; she is the living thing, I am but a portion; she is the Bride of Jesus Christ, I am but a feature.

And I can give my Church this homage and surrender because I believe that her spirit is the spirit of Christ Himself. He dwells in her as in His own body, she has risen with Him from the tomb; with Him, having risen, she can die no more, death can no more have dominion over her. With her, and through her, and therefore "in Christ Jesus" I too am risen from the dead; I am filled with His spirit, I am no longer my natural dead self, I am a member of Him; when this body dies, then I shall know what it is to live. I see now as in a glass after a dark manner, but then I shall see face to face. He is the real living head of this real living body; I am a limb, a part of that same body, and that body is the body of Christ. So close, so alive, so invigorating is the Catholic Church to her true members, so near, through her, are they united to Jesus Christ our Lord.