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The Time After Pentecost
to them of old: Thou shalt not commit adultery. But I say to you, that whosoever shall look
on a woman to lust after her hath already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Mt 5:27
f.). He tells us how we can gain the kingdom of heaven and what is the true meaning of life.
The world cannot supply the real answer to the purpose of life. It cannot be the enjoyment
of earthly possessions or worldly goods, which can be taken away from us against our will by
force or fraud. The true purpose of human life is to be found only in the striving for spiritual
perfection and the proper direction of human acts in their relationship to God. The true task
of man in this world is to struggle for justice, mercy, and purity in the midst of a world which
is swayed by injustice, selfishness, impurity, and neglect of God. “Lay not up to yourselves
treasures on earth. . . . Lay up to yourselves treasures in heaven” (Mt 6:19 f.). “Enter ye at the
narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many
there are who go in thereat. How narrow is the gate and straight is the way that leadeth to life;
and few there are that find it” (Mt 7:13). These are the principles and the lessons which Christ
taught the multitudes who followed Him. These are the words of eternal life.
Jesus teaches us also, coming as He does daily in the Sacrifice of the Mass. He ever abides
in His Church. “Behold, I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world” (Mt
28:20). He, the Lord and Master, is the power that supports St. Peter and the priests and doctors
of the Church. The pope, the bishops, and the priests are the instruments which Christ uses
to instruct us; He, the Lord, the divine truth that never fails, teaches, commands, and works
through them. The priests and the various officials of the Church work in the name and at the
command of the Lord, for they derive all their power and authority from Him. There is but one
properly constituted authority in the Church, and that is the authority founded on St. Peter.
Christ has said, “He that heareth you, heareth Me; and he that despiseth you, despiseth Me”
(Lk 10:16). The Catholic priest preaching the word of God speaks not as a mere man, not as
the mere human creature we see standing before us, but as the representative of Christ. It is not
Peter, nor Gregory, nor Pius who speaks from the bark of Peter, but Christ the Lord. The Church
is guided in her teaching by Christ Himself, and she can endure no compromise with the spirit
of the world. “Jesus Christ, yesterday, and today, and the same forever” (Heb 13:8). This thought
gives us confidence and consolation. We are listening to the word and the preaching of Christ.
It is really He who teaches us through His priests and bishops.
“He that heareth you, heareth Me.” Why is it that since the days of the apostles the world has
persecuted the priesthood of the Church? Because it hates Christ, whom it sees in the priesthood.
It is always He whom they seek to persecute when they molest the priest. In union with
St. Peter the priesthood answers in the name of Christ: “We ought to obey God rather than
men. The God of our fathers hath raised up Jesus, whom you put to death, hanging Him upon
a tree. Him hath God exalted with His right hand, to be prince and Savior, to give repentance
to Israel and remission of sin. And we are witnesses of these things and the Holy Ghost, whom
God hath given to all that obey Him” (Acts 5:29 ff.).
We must be prepared to support Christ in the person of His priests. We are not to be misled
by human frailties, nor scandalized by any moral shortcomings we may find in the person
of individual priests. We know that these deficiencies do not touch the Lord, who is the real
Master and who works through His priests. “All things therefore whatsoever they shall say to
you, observe and do; but according to their works do ye not” (Mt 23:3).
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