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That which is most striking and commendable in a good young girl is her respect, obedience and dutiful affection toward her mother. I hope, my daughter, that you possess all these characteristics. You have in reality three mothers: your mother on earth; Mary, your sweet mother in heaven; and your spiritual mother, the holy Catholic Church. And how kind, how watchful, how careful is our holy mother, the Church! Meditate upon this point, lay it well to heart, in order that you may be increasingly filled with respect for this careful mother, and may her more readily and more exactly
The Catholic Church is indeed a mother to you, a most gracious and watchful mother. After you had received from your earthly mother your physical existence, she bestowed upon you a supernatural, a spiritual life; she stood beside you at the outset of your career. In virtue of the power bequeathed to her by Christ, she commissioned her priest to cleanse you from the leprosy of sin, to awaken you to a new life in Christ, and to unclose for you the gate of heaven.
If your earthly mother can never cease to love you, and to be tenderly solicitous for your welfare, as long as she lives, holy Church will certainly not act in a different manner. She will love you and watch over you until the end of your life, and even beyond the grave. Was it not the Church who sent her priests to speak to you of God, to teach you His love and fear, to instruct you how to pray to Him aright? And when you have fallen into sin does not the Church, like a tender mother, exhort you to return to your merciful Father and seek forgiveness in the Sacrament of Penance? Does she not help you to obtain that forgiveness, and to persevere in the grace of God?
Again; is it not the Church who feeds your soul with the Bread of angels, in holy communion, in order that you may not faint and fall on the steep and rocky road of life?
The time may come when you will have to go forth into the world, far from the shelter of home, far from your beloved parents. But if no one can accompany you, if you sorely miss your friends and acquaintances, there is one friend who will never forsake you. I mean your watchful mother, the Catholic Church. Wherever you may be, she proclaims to you the word of God by the mouth of her priests; she cleanses your soul in the Sacrament of Penance, and nourishes you with the supersubstantial Bread; she supplies you with consolation and strength, amid struggles, trials, and temptations.
And when you stand in the greatest need of help and comfort, when, weak and powerless, you are stretched upon a bed of sickness, and among the strangers who surround you there is no one to take an interest in you then does your tender mother, the Church, not forget nor forsake you; she has provided hospitals, and sends an angel in human shape, a Sister of Charity, to nurse and tend you;. she empowers a priest, her representative, to minister to the needs of your soul, to reconcile you with God, and feed you with the Bread of eternal life.
And when at last, death, the king of terrors, draws near, when he lays his icy hand upon you, when nothing on earth can help you, and no one is of any avail—then does the Church once more befriend you, remaining beside you until the end. She, the careful mother, stands by your bed in the person of her priest, anointing you with holy oil, strengthening you for your final combat; her prayers accompany your departing soul, and conduct it to the judgment seat of Christ.
Even when your body is moldering in the grave, and your soul is expiating your transgressions amid the purgatorial fames, your watchful mother the Church, comes to your aid by means of the holy sacrifice of the Mass, her prayers and indulgences; she ceases not to intercede for you until you are received in the abode of never-ending felicity.
O my dear child, how kind, how loving, how thoughtful a mother you have in the holy Catholic Church! How tenderly ought you therefore to love her, how grateful should you be to her! And in what way can you give proof of your gratitude?
Your duty in regard to the Church is identical with that which you owe to your earthly mother. You must honor her, love and obey her. You must honor her by never showing her any disrespect, by never mocking at her doctrines, her services, her ceremonies, and her priests. Neither ought you to listen with complacency to those who ridicule her, and speak of her in a depreciating manner; you ought rather to try to put a stop to conversation of this nature, as far as it may lie in your power to do so. Would you listen with indifference if your earthly mother were slandered, ridiculed, dragged, so to speak, through the mire? Were you capable of thus acting, you would not deserve the name of daughter!
You ought therefore not to read newspapers or pamphlets which treat of Catholic matters, ecclesiastical ordinances, ceremonies, and priests, in a more or less contemptuous tone. A true child of the Church should resolve to read only edifying books and newspapers; she should also subscribe for Catholic journals and magazines, according to her circumstances.
You ought also to listen in a spirit of reverence to all which the Church proclaims and teaches, guided as she is by the holy Spirit of God, and you ought to assist, whenever you can, at High Mass, Benediction, the Forty Hours’ Adoration, and at all solemn services. You must be especially careful to honor the Church, your watchful mother, in the persons of priests, who are her ministers. Never treat them with contempt, as did a certain person who kept an inn somewhere in the Tyrol. When upon one occasion the parish priest felt it to be his duty to rebuke from the pulpit the drunkenness and dancing which went on in the tavern, the hostess, who was a widow, flew into a violent rage, and exclaimed: “I will set about building another drinking-saloon, and also a dancing-hall, under the very eyes of his Reverence!” She owned a plot of ground close to the pastor’s residence and began to build a tavern upon it, intending that her eldest son should manage the house. Before it was finished, the young man died, and his wife fell out with her mother-in-law. The quarrel resulted in a lawsuit; the building had to be discontinued; and five of the hostess’ seven strong, healthy sons died in the course of the next few years. Respect the priest and hear his word, for God has said: “He that despiseth you despiseth me.”
We may be quite sure that God will never own as His child anyone who does not love, honor, and obey the Church, as every dutiful child loves, honors and obeys an earthly mother. This was expressly stated by the holy martyr, bishop, and Doctor of the Church, St. Cyprian, eighteen hundred years ago, in the following words: “He who has not the Church for his mother, can not have God for his Father.” See that you remain a faithful daughter of this watchful and dutiful mother.
Faith of our fathers, living still,
In spite of dungeon, fire, and sword;
O, how our hearts beat high with joy
Whene’er we hear that glorious word!
Faith of our fathers, holy Faith,
We will be true to thee till death.
Faith of our fathers, we will love
Both friend and foe in all our strife,
And preach thee too, as love knows how,
By kindly words and virtuous life.
Faith of our fathers, holy Faith,
We will be true to thee till death.