made a Revelation to men of many divine truths, s ome of which they could have found out for themselves using their own natural powers, and others which so far surpass their understanding that they are totally unable to comprehend them completely. We have shown that God, in His infinite mercy and goodness sent His only Son, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, on earth for our salvation. We have shown that the Son of God founded a Church to facilitate the salvation of all men, which Church is perpetual and infallible, and which guarantees, absolutely, eternal salvation to all men who believe what she teaches and practices what she commands. That Church is, as we have shown, the Roman Catholic Church having, as its visible head, the Bishop of Rome, the successor of St. Peter and the Vicar of Christ. Thus, we have answered the question: "Why should I be a Catholic?" The Catholic Church, since it is indefectible, teaches and preserves unchanged all that she received from her divine Founder. Her creed contains no error, no contradictions, no defect, no flaw of any kind. The mysteries of Christianity are so closely fitted together that a denial of only one of these truths entails a logical denial of all the others. "Each of the mysteries implies all the others, and all are, so to say, concentrated in one. Thus the mystery of the Incarnation presents to us the Word of God, the eternal Son of God, the Wisdom of the Father, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, Who was made man in the womb of the Immaculate Virgin to restore mankind to the original justice whence it had fallen by the sin of our first parent. This ystery, therefore, supposes the mystery of the Holy Trinity, the mystery of original sin, and the mystery of the Immaculate Conception. On the mystery of the Incarnation rest also the mystery of the Redemption wrought for us on the Cross; the mystery of the regeneration of the world by grace, of which Christ, as the God made man, is the exemplar, and, as Redeemer, is the source; the mystery of the Church, which is His mystical Body, the extension of His Incarnation, His Kingdom; which He vivifies by His sacraments, governs interiorly by His Holy Spirit, and exteriorly by the visible spiritual heads that He has established. The In-. carnation is also the mystery on which are based the mystery of the life to come, the judgment, the resur rection of the body, and life everlasting, which are explained by the supreme authority and the glorifica tion of the Incarnate God." (Dogma, pp. 550-551) The Christian religion in it's entirety is a structure of marvelous beauty. "Thy testimonies are wonderful; therefore, my soul hath sought them. (Ps. cxviii, 129) 11 "Ye that have faith to look with fearless eyes Rejoice, whatever anguish rend the heart, That God has given you the priceless dower To live in these great times and have your part In Freedom's crowning hour, That ye may tell your sons who see the light High in the heavens--their heritage to take-'I saw the powers of darkness take their flight; I saw the morning break.'" Sir Owen Seaman (1861-1936) |