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and integrity of the Church. All of the
members of the Church stand on the
same foundation. Their judgments are
based on the same standards and they
recognize the same ideals of human
moral perfection. There is a common
seriousness of purpose, worship and
consecration, for the same sublime facts
and mysteries are honored by all alike.
The same current of Grace flows through
all alike, the same active power of
God. The Church’s Sacraments are the
process in which the life of the supernatural
community begins, progresses,
recovers lost ground and is continually
propagated.
So profound is the solidarity of mankind
that the obedience of the first man
would have been the safeguard of all,
but now his guilt is the guilt of all.
This is intolerable to the individualist
who has no grasp of the extent of human
solidarity. God’s Son became Man and
took upon Himself the guilt of the
entire human race. Christ became our
representative and, thus, His sufferings
are the sole property of the entire
human race.
Have you ever contemplated the
truth of the inspiring profundity that,
whenever one member offers his
suffering to God for the sake of the
other members of the Church, it
becomes a life-giving, redeeming force
to those for whom it has
been offered up? Not one
of us knows to what extent
he is living by the power
of Grace which flows into
his soul through the prayers
and sufferings of others
who, in silence and sacrifice,
offer their lives for the sake
of their brethren. And, this
community transcends the
boundaries of our present
life, for it extends beyond
the grave, embracing both
the Saints in Heaven and
the Souls in Purgatory.
The Church is Love. She is the Treasure
which must be the common property
of all. She is the Life which multiplies
itself, takes hold of all and whose
common nature must be a life of
boundless mutual donation in
which all belongs to all.
It has been so very often said that the
communal life of the Church is cold.
It is we who are cold because we are
still individualists! When we become
wholly Catholic, we will become conscious
of a living current passing from
man to man, the pulse of the throbbing
Heart of Christ in all His members. The
Catholic Faith, the Church, is not merely
one alternative among many, but it is
religious Truth! Pure and simple, it is
the Kingdom of God. The Church is
not a thing belonging to the past but
absolute reality and, therefore, an answer
to every Age including our own, and
its fulfillment. We are all responsible for
Her, each in his own way: the priest in
virtue of his ordination and the layman
in virtue of his Confirmation.
The Church is not to serve as a model
for the spiritual life of the individual,
but for the corporate body, composed of
the most distinct and varied elements.
The primary and exclusive aim of the
Liturgy is not the expression of the
individual’s reverence and worship
for God. The Liturgy is the
Church’s public and lawful
act of worship, which is
performed and conducted
by the officials whom the
Church has designated for
the post: Her priests.
In the Liturgy, God is to be
honored by the body of the
faithful and, in turn, the
latter is to derive sanctification
from this act of
worship. The prayers of the
Liturgy are entirely governed