Bishop Buddy Scrapbook 1937 (2)

CHIMES

CHIMES

their answer- "Grande opus facio non possum descendere." "I have a great work on hand and cannot come down." The wicked tried persistently to frame Nehemias and besought him to come down even for a brief interval and take counsel with them. But Nehemias- a trowel in one hand and a sword in the other-gave the same answer, "Grande opus facio-non possum descendere." And God blessed the valor and prudence of His servant. May that same answer be in your hearts and on your lips when the false gods of dark- ness try to drag you down. By the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, may your lives be blessed with the highest of all degrees-charity un- feigned, sweetness in the Holy Ghost. May the concord of sweet sounds, the rich master tones that have marked the harmony of your college course, be but the overtures to lullabies of future years. "Sing ye to the Lord a new canticle, let His praise be in the church of the Saints-let the children of Sion be joyful in their King-the high praises of God shall be in their mouth and two-edged swords in their hands." (Ps. 149-1, 2). treachery, had but one

ences, has nothing to fear from new discov- eries. She rejoices and cooperates in the pro- gress of science-in chemistry and medicine which ha.ve achieved much to alleviate the sufferings of man. Earth, air, water, and sun- shine unfold elements which tend to promote human happiness. The depths of the earth have been bared, and unrecorded wealth re- wards the enterprise. The natural resources are rich-the treasuries of the land are filled -but socially and morally we are bankrupt. Men love each other and pagan wives love children on a system of beggarly economy. If the human will were educated consistently with the intellect, if the human heart were explored, a wealth of affection could be found there. As a parting word, esteemed graduates, let me relate to you the story of Nehemias from the second book and the sixth chapter of Esdras. Nehemias hearing of the misery of his countrymen in Judea, lamented, fasted, and prayed to God for their relief, and so Nehe- mias received a commission from his king, Artexerxes, to rebuild the walls around J eru- salem. He gathered about him willing hands and heroic hearts and restored the gates and the walls in the face_ of every opposition. Enemies, in the guise of friends, came every day, coaxed, flattered, ridiculed, threat- ened to wreck the work. Nehemias knowing

that God never enters there, except when he comes to serve sentence of death, you have trained your will under the light of the Holy Ghost to accept and put in practice these de- ductions of the intellect. It therefore becomes evident that unless fit homage is paid to God, society cannot subsist because religion forms the basis of all social virtues. As the corollary of a cultivated mind, you can proclaim to the world that because man depends absolutely upon his divine Creator, man should conform to the Creator's will. This will of God is called the natural law- eternal and immutable, binding all creatures. In confirmation of this statement, let it be said, in defiance of pagan looseness, that the time honored meaning of matrimony is matris munus. It was always understood that matri- mony implied the responsibility of mother- hood. Marriage then means the willingness to ac- cept the privilege of enshrining immortal souls-to people heaven with saints, a pre- rogative little less than divine. Contrast this glorious destiny with the conduct of both ancient and modern pseudo-reformers-utter strangers to the restraining precepts of Jesus Christ who surrounded women with the pro- tection of a sacrament, the palladium of women's rights. The church has never flinched from her sacred charge since the time that St. John the Baptist stood before the incestuous King and fearlessly declared, "It is not lawful for you to have your broth- er's wife." During the middle ages, the church defended virginal and conjugal chas- tity against petty princes and barons who tried to intimidate every power that thwarted their lust. These so-called reform,ers proved yellow weaklings when the honor of women was at stake, and had not the sacred character of matrimony taken deep root in the conscience of Christian Europe, the invading hosts, the teaching and practice of heresiarchs in the storm of licentiousness would have uprooted every vestige of decency. Before you today is the sad example of Spain. When an effort 110

is made civilization breaks down with the consequent reaction that the innocence of women is trampled under the feet of tyrants. The sacrament of matri- mony, its special sacramental grace, guaran- tees to every woman a unique dignity, to be no chattel mortgage as are the wives in many Asiatic nations but Queen of her home; to be dethroned by death alone, and not the tenant at will according to pagan principles; to be an exemplar of fidelity and not the victim of rival parasites. In vindicating the sanctity of marriage, the church has contended not only with the fierce passions of barbarians but with the arbitrarv power of the spirit of wickedness in high places-the compromising attitude not of lawyers but betrayers of the law. Practically alone has the Catholic Church defended the integrity of the home. Her garments are splashed with the blood of martyrs. The Prophet Isaias foretold ( 6 ~-1) "Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bosra, this beautiful one in his robe ' walking in the greatness of his strength." Down through the generations comes the answer: "I that speak justice and am a de- fender to save. Why then is thy apparel red and thy garments like theirs that tread in the winepress? I have trodden the wine press alone . . . and of the Gentiles there is not a man with me." Today the world reels in stupor from an overindulgence of materialism-the worst form of drunkenness. In his pride of intel- lect and delirium of smug overweening com- placency, man thinks he can get along without his Creator. He points to new discoveries, new gadgets added to machinery, the grafting of flowers-meanwhile ignoring the Divine Artist who created the rose and who paints all the flowers. He says "As far as the micro- scope and scalpel go, we go; where the micro- scope and scalpel stop, we stop." It is the one-track mind groping along the outer edge of the only world it knows. The Church, the patron of arts and sci- Ju ' E, 1938 to crush Christianity,

"Come Holy Ghost! Creator come! From Thy bright heavenly home, Come, take possession of our souls And make them all Thine own."

PIGMY

A gnome I've been- Concerned with earthly things, Like scouring pots and pans and keeping children clean. And yet my soul hath taken flight With birds at eventide, And soared into the red gold of the clouds Where deathless dreams abide. DOROTHY TAYLOR '41.

A pigmy, I Have walked beneath the towering trees, Blind and deaf to all earth's mysteries. The stars peep through the branches. I sometimes sigh Because their names I do not know. But I scarce know the names of flowers That in the garden grow.

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.JUNE, 1938