9781644135945

The Light of the World
were quiet and unimpressive. Its divine Founder came quietly into the world at Bethlehem
and began His work in complete seclusion, in silent prayer and sacrifice. Humanly speaking,
the success which Christ achieved in His life was unimpressive. He had not even succeeded in
completely changing the inner dispositions of the apostles on whom He established His Church.
This Church was established on the feast of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit descended upon
the apostles in the form of fiery tongues. From that moment the Church is the leaven which is
to change mankind into the children of God.
St. Luke paints for us a vivid picture of the power and vitality of the infant Church.
“And they were persevering in the doctrine of the apostles, and in the communication of
the breaking of bread, and in prayers. And fear came upon every soul. Many wonders also
and signs were done by the apostles in Jerusalem, and there was great fear in all” (Acts 2:42
f.). And again in a later chapter of the Acts of the Apostles he relates: “And the multitude of
believers had but one heart and one soul; neither did any one say that aught of the things
which he possessed was his own; but all things were common unto them. And with great
power did the apostles give testimony of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, our Lord; and
great grace was in them all. For neither was there any one needy among them. For as many
as were owners of lands or houses, sold them and brought the price of the things they sold,
and laid it down before the feet of the apostles, and distribution was made to every one
according as he had need” (4:32 ff.). Thus did Christianity penetrate and elevate everything
that it touched.
“The kingdom of heaven is like to leaven.” The chief purpose of the Church is the religious
and moral regeneration of the human race. She also undertakes to improve the social, economic,
and cultural standards of the world. Even the heathens worshiped a divinity, but their reason for
worship was usually a fear of the gods or a desire to wring some favor from them. Their religions
did not pretend to work a moral reform in their lives. The religion of the Jews was vastly superior
to the religions of the pagans; it was based on divine revelation and insisted on the adoration
of the one true God. It was, nevertheless, a religion of fear, and remained a national religion,
confined, for the most part, to the Jewish people. The religion of the Jews served primarily as
a preparation for the perfect religion which came only with Christ and His Church. Christ
replaced the law of fear with the law of love. “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole
heart” (Mt 22:37). Christ’s law of love requires also the love of neighbor — a supernatural love
based on our love of God. The law embraces all men, and there is no circumstance when one
may be excused from this universal law of love.
Christianity gives a supernatural direction to all the activities of man and inspires him
with the desire to possess God both in this life and the next. What a harvest of good works this
influence has produced! What a treasure of sacrifice, patience, and virtue has been produced by
the millions of souls who have been leavened by the spirit of love! For two thousand years the
law of Christ has been cultivating these virtues in the hearts of the saints. The kingdom of God
is within us, and there the Church hides the leaven of divine love until our souls are completely
absorbed by it. Indefatigably and without ceasing she continues to work in the souls of men in
spite of all opposition and persecution.
The Church began the work of regeneration in us when we were baptized. In that holy sacrament
we became “a new creature” (2 Cor 5:17) “and put on the new man, who . . . is created in justice
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