CHRISTIAN UNITY

New Zealand Tablet, 2 March 1911, Page 401

CHRISTIAN UNITY

In the course of a sermon delivered on Sunday, December 4, in the Cathedral, Baltimore, Cardinal Gibbons said: ~,•'• , A single illustration will suffice to exhibit in a strong light the widespread dominion of the Catholic Church, together with her organic unity. Take the Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, opened in 1869, and presided over by Pope Pius IX. Of the thousand Bishops and upwards now comprising the hierarchy of the Catholic Church, nearly eight hundred attended the opening session, the rest being unavoidably absent. All parts of the habitable globe were represented at the Council. The Bishops assembled from Great Britain, Ireland, France, Germany, Switzerland, and from almost every nation and principality in Europe. They met from Canada, the United States, Mexico, and South America, and from the islands of the Atlantic and the Pacific. They were gathered together from different parts of Africa and Oceanica. They went from the banks of the Tigris and Euphrates, the cradle of the human race, and from the banks of the Jordan, the cradle of Christianity. They travelled to Some from Mossul, built near ancient Nineveh, and from Bagdad, founded on the ruins of Babylon. They flocked from Damascus and Mount Libanus and from the Holy Land, sanctified by the footprints of Our Blessed Redeemer. Those Bishops belonged to every form of government, from the republic to the most absolute monarchy. Their faces were marked by almost every shade and color that distinguish the human family. They spoke every civilised language under the sun. Kneeling together in the same great council hall, truly could those prelates exclaim, in the language of the Apocalypse: 'Thou hast redeemed us, O Lord ; to God in Thy blood out of everv tribe, and tongue and people, and nation' (Apoc. v., 9). The Eucharistic Congress. At the recent Eucharistic Congress of Montreal a great multitude of worshippers were assembled from various parts of Europe and America. Even Australia and Africa were represented. Let us suppose that a pilgrim from Germany or Switzerland, ignorant of the language of the country, is walking the streets, when he hears the sound of the Cathedral bell. What hallowed associations it arouses in his memory! He accepts its voice as an invitation to prayer. He sees the cross-crowned spire, and the cross speaks to his heart. _ And entering the Cathedral, while the tears rim down his sun-burned cheeks, he exclaims: How lovely are Thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts! My soul longeth and fainteth for the courts of the Lord. For the sparrow hath found herself a nest, .and the turtle dove a home. Thy altars are my home, mv King and my God.' Looking around him, he observes the paintings of the saints, and of the Lord of saints, whom he was accustomed to venerate at home. He sees the baptismal font, which reminds him of the days of his baptismal innocense, and the words of the psalmist rush spontaneously to his mind: ' I will go to the altar of God, to God who rejoiceth my youth.' He sees the confessionals, which recall to his mind the place where he was accustomed to kneel at the feet of the Lord's annointed and hear those saving words: ' Thy sins are forgiven thee.' He sees the altar rail where he was accustomed to partake of the Holy of Holies. He beholds the altar ablaze with lights. He sees the Pontiff and priests clothed in their sacred robes, those quaint old garments so strange to him who is not of the household of the faith, but as familiar to the exile as his mother's face. He hears the sound of the organ and the chant of the choir singing the joyful 'Gloria in Excelsis' and the immortal Creed. He-listens to the words of the Preface, that masterpiece of musical creation, so simple yet so sublime, so familiar, yet so soul-stirring. He sees a multitude of kneeling worshippers like himself, and he feels in his heart of hearts that he is in the presence of brothers and sisters who have with him ' one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in us all.' One, Catholic, and Apostolic. I believo in the one holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church. Oh, my brethren, what a charm there is in these words ! They are honey to my lips, music to my ears, and sweet jubilation to my heart. They send an indescribable thrill through my inmost soul. I believe in the one, holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church. This profession of faith is a sacred bond of union between us. It binds lis to our brethren in ages past, adown the centuries to Apostolic times. It unites us to them in ages yet to come, till time shall be no more. It associates us with the saints in Heaven above and on earth beneath. Wherever I wander as a pilgrim and a stranger over the face of the earth I need no other passport in order to find a warm welcome and to be received into the hearts and homes of my brethren in the Lord.