Wednesday, November 23, 2022

November 23, 2022

the Blessed Mother takes care of us too. When she sees that we are in trouble and need help, she will ask Jesus to help us. And because Jesus loves Mary so much, He will do what she asks Him to do. 
                           (the catholic mother's helper, 1948)


Our Lord does not engage visibly in the external administration of His Church. He commits this duty to the charge of weak and erring men, with the assurance, however, of His guidance to them, and of our security in obeying them. "He that heareth you heareth me" (Luke x. 16). The Apostle says therefore, "Let a man so account of us as of the ministers of Christ and the dispensers of the mysteries of God" (1 Cor. iv. 1). And again : God "hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation. . . . For Christ therefore we are ambassadors, God as it were exhorting by us" (2 Cor. v. 18, 20). Men are the ministers of God towards men in all things, as ruling, teaching, giving daily bread, administering the divine gifts of justice, order, and truth; and in the spiritual sphere as conferring Baptism, and communicating the Holy Ghost, the bread of the word, and the bread of the Blessed Sacrament. It is in harmony with all this that confession of sin should be made to certain delegated men, and forgiveness conveyed through their ministry. The spirit of pride spoke in the Pharisees when they said, "Who can forgive sins but God alone?" (Luke v. 21). Our Lord, in asserting that power for Himself without declaring Himself to be God the Son, lays down the principle that underlies the practice of confession, viz., that God has the power to delegate men to convey His forgiveness of sins. Greater is this spiritual authority than that of all monarchs or leaders of men. Glorify "God who gave such power to men" (Matt. ix. 8).