And around all these outstanding saintly forms, in whom God’s power and grace have won their most beautiful triumphs, shine the thousands of lesser lights, the countless little flames that have caught fire at the Heart of Jesus—from the little child that dies in the fatherly arms of God to the old man who has barely escaped the dangers of life and sorrowfully prays, “Lord, be merciful to me a sinner!”

O world! a sea of love and light engulfs thee. O world, so poor and cold! how art thou so rich, how art thou so fair? … O Holy Church!

Endnotes

1.      Vatican Council, Sess. III, cap. 3, canon 6.

2.      K Schleich, “Vom Schaltwerk der Gedanken,” 1917, p. 143 ff.

3.      “Summa Theol., Secunda Secundae,” Q. CLII, Art. 5.

4.      “Frohliche Wissenschaft,” 1887, p. 295.

5.      “Die Welt als Wille und Vorstellung,” ed. Grisebach, Vol. II, p. 736. Eng. tr., “The world as will and idea” (London 1883-6), Vol. III, p. 447-8.

6.      Op. cit., Q. CLXXXIV, Art. 3.

Chapter XIII: Catholicism in Its Actuality

Needs must scandals come (Luke xvii, 1).

In the previous Chapters we have been busy with the question, What is Catholicism? We have described and insisted on the fundamental conception that the Church is the Body of Christ and God’s Kingdom on earth, and by means of this fundamental conception we have illustrated her dogma, worship, constitution and community life; we have shown that she is distinctively both popular and universal; we have explained her claim to be the sole source of salvation; and finally we have described the particular means she employs in saving men. We have striven to set forth the essential and permanent, that which lies outside the changes of time, and therefore to discover and expound the idea of Catholicism in the clearest possible way and apart from the conditions of space and time. In this last Chapter we shall answer the question, How is this idea realized in actual fact? From ideal Catholicism we pass to actual Catholicism, and we ask how is the one related to the other, and how does actual Catholicism fulfill the divine idea.