THE UTILITY OF OPPOSITION.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume III, Issue 124, 10 September 1875, Page 13

THE UTILITY OF OPPOSITION.

■■■ II 11I 1 II 11I 1 ■ Is 1 we road the history of the Catholic Church with any attention, 'we may observe the great obstacles which good and pious projects have had to contend with, not only at their inception, but frequently for many years, before they wero accepted and acknowledged. It is a great error to suppose that St. Dominic, St. Francis, and St. Ignatius Loyola, to take prominent instances, were immediately recognised as saints, and their institutes and Orders universally adopted as soon as they were formed. On the contrary, every Order and Society in the Church has been obliged to pass through a fire of criticism and opposition, and overcome- numerous obstacles, before being recognised and' approved. i It is a gross error, prevalent'amongst ill-instructed Protestants, to imagine that some adroit plan is every now and then devised at Rome, and through the instrumentality of agents put into execution. On the contrary, most of the great agencies, which are doing so much good in the Church, have arisen from the efforts of individuals. A Spanish soldier is wounded, and obliged to take to his bed. He reads the lives of the saints, and wishes to follow their example. In time ho forms a community, and obtains tho approval of the Holy See, and after many years the Society of Jesus blooms over the Catholic world. A simple priest in France teachei a peasant girl to tend an old woman, and. after many years we behold the Little Sisters of the Poor in every country. St. Anthony flies into the Egyptian Desert, and",in the course of many years its solitudes are peopled with a race of hermits. A servant girl of Lyons collects a few francs from her friends, and it results in the Association for the Propagation of the Faith. Great oaks have sprung from little acorns, and so it has been with all tho institutions of the Church. The Holy See uses due deliberation and caution about such matters, and is of opinion that we should " make haste slowly," as the old Latin proverb has it. It knows full well that many an organization and society, that started in its career 'full of zeal and piety, has afterwards degenerated, and, not only so, but has become the very opposite of what it was designed to be. The Maions were formerly a pio.us confraternity of laymen, who exerted | their talent in the erection of the "beautiful churches, cathedrals, and abbeys, that covered Catholic Europe ; yet, in the course of time they became an odious and impious sect, the curse of Christendom, and animated with a diabolical hatred against the Holy See. The Knight Templars fell from then* holy and high estate, became a by- word and a scorn, and were suppressed, leaving the modern Order to inherit - their name, but not their qualities. In fact, the shores of the ocean of Time are strewn with the wrecks of foundered organisations. Can we not, then, learn a lesson from'this ? As we are accustomed to travel by steam, we think now-a-days that some project — some good project, perhaps — has only to be started, and that immediately every one mu6l be interested in it, and that it should receive unqualified endorsement and prompt support. Poor human nature is the same in all ages. Eager, zealous, onergetic at the commencement of his enterprises, man thinks every moment wasted that is not employed in pushing them ; but soon his energy flags, and his efforts, relax. A little wholesomejopposition at this age does great good. It stimulates him to renewed M exertions, it tries his sincerity and tests his metal. When the sun is shining, and the brejezes are favorable, the efforts of the sailor flag 5 but vrhen clouds arise and tempests lower, he puts forth his utmost vigor. The great and noble Orders of the Catholic Church as well as tho numerons congregations and associations, were not born in the lap of ease and luxury ; but, on the contrary, were nursed in storms and cradled in the winds. They were tried by many a gale, and their ' roots grew strong and deep by reason of opposition. In like manner every organisation must expect opposition and criticism at first, and afterwards it will be all the stronger and better for the trials through which it has passed. — ' Standard.' \^