Dom Prosper Gueranger:
Church of Jesus that was promised by Him to the Earth during the days of His mortal life, that earnest forth from His sacred Side when wounded by the spear on the Cross, that was organised and perfected by Him during the last days of His sojourn here below— we lovingly greet you as our Mother. You are the Spouse of our Redeemer, and it is through you that we were born to Him. It is you that gave us life by Baptism. It is you that gives us the Word which enlightens us. It is you that ministers to us the helps by which we are led through our earthly pilgrimage to Heaven. It is you that governs us in the spiritual order by your holy ordinances. Under your maternal care, we are safe. We have nothing to fear. What can error do against us? You are the “pillar and ground of the truth” (1 Timothy iii. 15).
What effect can the revolutions of our earthly habitation have upon us? We know, that if everything else should fail us, you will ever be with us. It was during these very days which precede the Ascension that our Lord Jesus said to his Apostles, and through them, to their successors: “Behold! I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world” (Matthew xxviii. 20). What a promise of duration was not this! If we consult the history of these last [two thousand] years, it will tell us that this promise has never once been broken. The gates of Hell have risen up against you innumerable times, but they have never prevailed against you, no, not for one single moment! And thus it is, Church, that being founded on Christ your Spouse, you give us a share in your own divine immutability! Established as we are in you there is not a truth which the eye of our faith cannot see. There is not a blessing which, despite our weakness, we may not make our own. There is no object shown us by hope, which we may not attain. You hold us in your arms, and from the height to which you raise us, we see the mysteries of time and the secrets of eternity. Our eye admiringly follows you, whether we consider you as Militant on earth, Suffering in your dear ones who are in the temporary state of expiation, or Triumphant in Heaven. You are with us in our exile, and already are you, in millions of your children, heiress of the eternal kingdom. Keep us near us, nay, within you, O you our Mother, who are the beloved Spouse of our Lord! To whom shall we go but to you? Is it not to you, and to you alone, that He has entrusted the words of eternal life?
How much they are to be pitied, O Church, who do not know you! And yet, if they are seeking God with all their heart they will one day know you. How much they are to be pitied, who once knew you, and afterwards, in their pride and ingratitude, denied you! And yet, no one ever fell into such misery unless he first voluntarily shut his eyes against the light that was within him. How much they are to be pitied who know you and still live enjoying what you give your children, and who yet take side with your enemies in insulting and betraying you! They are men whose character is shallowness of mind. They speak their opinions as though they were oracles. They have contracted the flippant effrontery of our age, and to hear them speak of you one would suppose that they look on you as a human institution which they may approve or blame according to their humour. Instead of revering whatever you have taught regarding yourself and your rights, instead of revering what you have ordained, regulated and practised, these Catholics, whose sympathies are all with your enemies, would have you conform your teachings and conduct with the so-called Progress of the times. The whole world is given to you as your inheritance, and yet these insolent children would have you be content with what they think proper to assign to you. You, the Mother of mankind, must be under their wise care! It is from them, you must, henceforth, learn how best to fulfil your mission! Godless men, adorers of what they called the rights of man, dared, a century back, to expel you from political life which up till then you had kept in harmony with its Divine Master. These men have left disciples who would have you withdraw from everything that regards the outward world, and look on as a mere stranger. You must no longer exercise the rights given you by the Son of God over both soul and body. This royalty of yours is out of date, and you must be satisfied to enjoy the liberty which in virtue of the law of Progress, is granted alike to error and to truth. The wise and powerful ones of this world are discussing the question of dethroning, now after a thousand years’ reign, the Vicar of your Spouse, and instead of resenting such a project with holy indignation as tending to the destruction of the last bulwark of Christendom, there are many among us who approve of it, and this on principles which are, it is true, in favour with rationalistic politicians, but which are formally condemned by your teachings, your acts, nay, by your very existence. How short sighted are such Catholics as these who hope to make you acceptable to the world by giving you the semblance of a human institution! The world is too shrewd: it knows you to be essentially supernatural, and this is what it can never tolerate.
Wiser and more Christian by far are they, who detesting such profane theories, have, like devoted Machabees, drawn the sword against your enemies, Church of Christ! And even in an age like this, when faith has grown weak, have so well understood their Christian duty as to die in your defence and, by so dying, to win the crown of martyrdom. Yes, it is our duty to confess you: to disguise you, is to belie you. You are one of the articles of our Creed: “I believe in the holy Catholic Church.” You have been known these [two thousand] years, and will men now pretend that you must conform to the world’s capricious views? This cannot be. Jesus made you be like Himself, a sign of contradiction (Luke ii. 34), and as such we must receive you. We must listen to your protestations against false principles and practices, and not attempt to remodel you. Only God has power to give His Church a form other than that He has already given her.
Blessed are they who share your lot, dear Church of our Redeemer! In these un-Christian times you are unpopular. You were so in ages long gone by when men could not become your children, save at the risk of being despised. It is the same now, and we are resolved to espouse your cause. We confess you to be our Mother, inaccessible to the changes of this world. Whether honoured or persecuted, you continue your mission here below. Thus will it be until the time comes when this earth, which was created to be your kingdom, will see you ascend to Heaven and flee from a world which will deserve the severest chastisements of God’s anger, because of its having despised and rejected you.
