SUBMISSION TO GOD'S REPRESENTATIVES

III. SUBMISSION TO GOD'S REPRESENTATIVES.

1. Loyalty to Jesus Christ

All our hope is in our Mediator Jesus Christ. "The Father hath given all things into His hands" (John iii. 35). He ransomed us at a great price. To Him we swore allegiance in holy Baptism. He is ''the way, the truth and the life" (John xiv. 6). 'No one can go to the Father except through Him. He is the judge of the living and the dead, the conqueror of hell, and the bestower of the crown of life. As His mystical members we should make the interest of Jesus Christ our own. Loyalty to, Him should prompt us to further the glory of God and the welfare of souls. Loyalty to Him should prompt us to copy Him in our daily lives, until, with St. Paul, we glory only in the cross of Jesus Christ.

2. Loyalty to the Catholic Church.

To His Church Jesus Christ said, ^^ As the Father hath sent Me I also send you " (John XX. 21). The loyalty, then, which we owe to the Savior, we owe likewise to His Church. Or rather, as fraternal charity is the test of our love for God, so loyalty to the Catholic Church is the evidence of our loyalty to Jesus Christ. In the desolation of gethsemanes Jesus looked in vain for sympathy from His disciples. In the conflicts with her enemies shall holy Church look in vain for sympathy from her children? Shall she be forced to complain as God did of old; “I have brought up children, and exalted them; but they have despised me?" (Is. i. 2.) If we are to be loyal members of the Catholic Church, we must enter readily into the views of our Holy Father, of our bishops and pastors, rejoice with them in their success, sympathize with them in their trials, and do all we can by prayer and good works to aid them in extending the reign of Christ in the hearts of men.

3. Respect for Lawful Authority.

As "there is no power but from God'' (Rom. xiii. 1), respect for authority must be a characteristic of every loyal Catholic. By inculcating obedience to the various established forms of government in the world, the Catholic Church is a pillar of support alike to kingdoms and republics, while at the same time she champions the rights of every member of society, by condemning an abuse of authority as tyranny. In like manner the Church safeguards the permanence of the home by defending the rights of parents over their children, and the obligation of all, but especially of the children, to respect the sacred rights of parents in the home.

4. Obedience to Our Spiritual Director.

Pride and self-love easily deceive us on the journey of life. To protect ns against this self-deception Jesus Christ has given us the priests of His Church as the official interpreters of His law, and the divine directors of our consciences. To them He said: “He that heareth you, heareth Me" {Luke ix. 16). Because the blind cannot lead the blind, the Catholic Church requires her priests to prepare by years of study and prayer to assume the responsibilities of their office. An humble and docile soul that submits in a spirit of faith to the guidance of her spiritual director enjoys the greatest peace and security. A proud and selfish spirit, on the other hand, that desires the evidence of sense or reason instead of the teaching of faith, will seek in vain for peace of mind or heart as long as she refuses to submit to the guidance of Christ's representative.