Viewing page 137 of 146

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

thirty-four

Poise

5142011-0720

[[bold]] The Catholic Doctrine of Peace [[/bold]]

(Continued from page 30)

to promote and develop these traits whenever possible. They are not a source of disruption; they should enrich the human family. But above all things stands the brotherhood of man. Racial prejudices are foreign to the Christian teaching as stated by St. Paul: "There is neither Gentile not Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian nor Scythian, bond nor free. But Christ is all, and in all" (Col. 3,11). All are of common origin, redeemed by Christ, and national interests must recognize these facts. In all these questions, it must always be remembered that the rights of different peoples are not contradictory but complimentary. The church aims at unity, no uniformity. As a consequence it follows that just as the commonwealths have individual rights, so do they also have obligations, and if they are to live at peace with one another the first requisite is mutual confidence. This confidence in turn must be based on something higher than national aspirations or armed force. It must be based on the universal brotherhood of man, which rests upon the doctrine of the love of God. These two doctrines, the solidarity of the human race and the dependence of man's laws upon a source outside of man, have formed the basis upon which the popes have addressed the entire world. Pope Pius XII recently affirmed this important doctrine: "The fundamental condition of a just and honorable peace is to assure the right to life and independence of all nations, large and small, strong or weak. One nation's will to live must never be tantamount to a death sentence of another. When this equality of rights has been destroyed, injured or imperiled, juridical order requires reparation whose measure and extent are not determined by the sword or selfish judgement, but by the standards of justice and reciprocal equality."
  World conditions today, however, are almost the exact opposite. What Pope Benedict XV wrote at the time of the first World War accurately describes the situation:
  "Far different from this is the behavior of men today. Never perhaps was there more talking about the brotherhood of man than there is today; in fact, men do not hesitate to proclaim that striving after brotherhood is one of the greatest gifts of modern civilization, ignoring the teaching of the Gospel, and setting aside the work of Christ and His Church. But in reality never was there less brotherly activity amongst men than at the present moment. Race hatred has reached its climax; peoples are more divided by jealousies than by frontiers; within one and the same nation, within the same city, there rages the burning envy of class against class; and amongst individuals it is self-love which is the supreme law over-ruling everything. 
  "You see, Venerable Brethren, how necessary it is to strive in every possible way that the charity of Jesus Christ should once more rule amongst men." [[italics]] (On the Outbreak of the World War.) [[/italics]]
  This should be the object of all men, but especially of Catholics, "that the charity of Jesus Christ should once more rule amongst men." To accomplish this, however, all sentiments of hatred and revenge must be banished. The mistake of twenty-five years ago must not be repeated. Peace cannot rest on a "forest of bayonets" or the determination to crush the vanquished once and for all. Instead, men must be animated by a faith in a personal God to whom one day they will have to render a strict account. Legislators must realize that the work of Christ was to unite men and that true peace and happiness are based upon justice and charity. Any other foundation is unstable and destined to crumble. 
  Catholics undoubtedly have the obligation to study these problems and to promote a Christian solution of them. But work and study alone are insufficient. We have a still more powerful weapon, prayer. We must rely upon Almighty God to inspire men with true principles; we must teach the entire world that recourse to the Giver of true peace is the only way out of out present difficulties. In conclusion, I can think of no more fitting prayer than that of our present Holy Father: "The peace amongst men which Thou wouldst give is dead. Raise it once more to life, Divine Conqueror of death. Let the love of Thy Divine Spirit reign and conquer so that a right and ordered peace may be given once more to peoples and nations."

[[bold]] Choosing a Career [[/bold]]

(continued from page 15)

specialist in some field; she should also train herself for a state in life. When we use the word "vocation" in this latter sense, we have in mind the three states: religious life, marriage and single life in the world. To prepare for a profession and to prepare for a state in life are not identical; for to make a living is one thing, and to live in the fullest sense of the word is quite another. For instance, the girl who plans to enter a teaching community as soon as she finishes college has her path of preparation clearly marked out of her. She will qualify herself in two ways: intellectually for the teaching profession, and spiritually for the religious state. 
  The girl who elects to stay in the world may marry, or, remaining single, she may follow a professional career. In either case the best general preparation is a liberal arts education. In college there are many cultural opportunities which have little bearing on making a living but which have a most important bearing on the life taken as a state. A married woman, as G. K. Chesterton asserts, must be a universalist as distinct from a specialist; that is, she should be an artist who can make her home attractive, a teacher who is able to instruct her children, a citizen who is interested in social and civic movements, a member of a parish who promotes the cause of religion, and an individual who grows intellectually and spiritually by employing her leisure to the best advantage. In other words, sexual attraction, while it is required for marriage, is not enough for the marriage state. People cannot live on live, nor can sexual attraction alone be a guarantee of happiness. Sex is only a part of life, and those people who attempt to make it the whole of life are headed for shipwreck. As a rule, a man has a wide range of interests apart from his duties as a husband and a father; he is interested in his work; he likes politics; he belongs to clubs; he takes up sports. In the early years of marriage a girl will be mainly occupied with the making of a home and the rearing of children, but as she grows older she too must be able to fill her life with cultural and religious activities. In college a girl has a chance to train her mind, to broaden her outlook, to cultivate a taste for reading and art, to acquire social graces - all of which will enable her to live in the strict sense of the word. 
  THis line of reasoning aplies even with greater force to the firl who leads a single life in the world. She may be intensely interested in her occupation, but she will not be on duty all the time. Her greatest problem is to employ her leisure with profit. She needs to know how to fill the time when she is off duty with intellectual and artistic pursuits. A girl who leaves colleges with a love of serious reading need never be bored, and she is also equipped with a natural means of warding off temptations to evil.
  If a liberal arts education is a general preparation for one's state in life, what is the special preparation? The girl who intends to stay in the world should acquire some skill in household crafts. The management of a home in preeminently the work of a girl, and no girl should leave college in utter ignorance of this ancient and honorable art. As a minimum essential, a girl should know how to cook. Of course, it may be objected that any intelligent girl can learn to cook after she is married. A young married woman once told me that she was trying to make up for list time by taking lessons at a cooking school. She asserted that the only practical equipment which she had brought to the high and holy state of matrimony was a can-opener. She was a clever girl and I have no doubt that she developed into a good cook. But the process was hardly fair to the young man, who was the victim of her culinary experiments.
  Of course, the art of cooking is only a particular example. It stands for all those essentially feminine accomplishment which every girl should master. A girl will not be successful of influential in life if she refuses to train herself in the things which she can do supremely well. It is senseless for her to attempt to blot out the differences between herself and a boy. The world does not set a high value on an effeminate man; nor does it set a high value on a  mannish woman. 

[[bold]] Firecrackers--- [[/bold]]

(continued from page 31)

on the summit of Corcovado, the highest of the encircling hills. There is scarcely a street corner from which one cannot look up and see tha compassionate figure, its head bent ever so slightly, its arms stretched wide against the sky. At night the statue is flood-lighted, and shines high above the twinkling city lights, undwarfed by height of distance.
  One of the tourists on the ship, desperately homesick and unwilling to admit that there was anything good outside of New York City, confessed that he had been impressed by the statue of Christ in Rio.
  "Do you know," he frequently said in awed tones, "that there are five tons of concrete [[italics]] in the head alone?" [[/italics]]
  And I still remember one of our friends, who lived in Rio, giving us directions for reaching his house at night. 
  "You can't miss it," he told us. "We live right at the feet o the Redemptor."
  Which, he had been mystically inclined, was a good place to live.