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It is no easy task, but a burdensome and difficult matter, for a fallen man the obey, to submit to the will of another. For this reason many persons, and there are many young girls among the number, strive to shake off the yoke of obedience. Often does it appear to them extremely difficult, if not impossible, to obey the precepts and commands of the Church. As I have shown in the foregoing chapter, this case most frequently occurs when it is a question of making a marriage contract. Self-love searches out all manner of pretexts and objections which may serve as excuses for disobedience, and the evil world, with its fatal maxims, invariably takes the wrong side. Let us examine a few of these objections.
For instance, the objector may say that the precepts and exhortations of the Church are too numerous to be remembered and practiced. Don’t worry about that. Your conscience is a sentinel ever standing at the door of your heart. Hearken to the voice of conscience. Follow when it calls; then everything will go right, for all depends upon following its lead. Yet, is it so impossible to obey the Church in all respects? Clear and uncompromising indeed are the words of Our Lord: “He that will not hear the Church, let him be to thee as the heathen and publican.” If we are thus compelled to hear and obey the Church, it must be possible for us to do so, since God never requires of us an impossibility. He renders that possible which would be impossible to our own strength; His grace, indeed, renders it easy. In regard to this, St. Paul says: “I can do all things in Him who strengtheneth me.”
Another objection frequently urged against the laws of the Church concerning marriage, that mixed marriages are often very happy and that therefore the Church is unduly severe when she warns her children against them. I answer, in the first place: If mixed marriages in which the directions of the Church are complied with, and the children are brought up as Catholics, turn out happily, so much the better. But if this so-called happiness is purchased at the price of a Protestant education for the children, it is only a hollow sort of happiness, however real and durable it may appear in the eyes of the world. Sooner or later, perhaps only when the brief span of earthly existence is ended, it will be exchanged for terrible misery.
I answer, in the second place: Experience teaches very clearly that the number of mixed marriages which are really happy is exceedingly small.
If a Catholic wife, not having been married according to the precepts of the Church, derives unalloyed happiness or good fortune from the union, how difficult must it not be for her to repent sincerely of the step she has taken, to repent in such a manner as not to be excluded from eternal happiness!
Perhaps another young girl, who has made the acquaintance of a non-Catholic, may say to me: “But the Protestant who wishes to marry me is such a good steady young fellow, no bad Christian nor unbeliever, a far better man, in fact, than many of my Catholic acquaintances.” To this girl I would reply: I am very glad to hear all this, and I hope the young man in question will always remain what he is at present. But because a Protestant is religious and holds to his own beliefs, you must be all the more careful not to form a closer intimacy with him, for, if he marries you, he will certainly not allow his children to be brought up as Catholics. On this account your acquaintance with him will expose you to the risk of disobeying the Church.
A third objector may remark: “My Protestant suitor has solemnly assured me that if only I will accept him we shall be married in a church, and our children shall be brought up as Catholics. Indeed, he is prepared to embrace my creed, for there is nothing he is not willing to sacrifice for my sake. What more could be wished for?” What more could I desire for you, dear child? I could wish that you should have a little more insight into the future, and a little less blind confidence. Beware of allowing yourself to be dazzled by fine words and fair promises, or led about in leading-strings! Do not imitate so many young girls, who have to pay so terribly high a price for their foolish credulity. Imagine the feelings of a Catholic mother, who has been promised that her children shall be educated in her own faith, and has married on this condition-imagine, I say, what her feelings must be if her Protestant husband breaks his word. And how many such cases occur in mixed marriages!
Another girl, who has been married by a Protestant minister, or has contracted a purely civil marriage, deludes herself with the idea that everything can be set right later on. What extreme carelessness is this! It is like the conduct of a child who throws himself into the water in spite of all his mother’s warnings, saying as he does so, that his mother can easily get him out. Your loving mother, the Catholic Church, is indeed ready to save you from eternal death in spite of your disobedience, and she offers you every means of rescue. But suppose her aid should come too late, when the floods had already engulfed you; suppose, willful and unrepentant, you had withdrawn your- elf from her protecting hands, and were to die in this frame of mind!
How widely different was the conduct of St. Frances of Chantal! During a visit she paid to her sister, a nobleman who owned large estates offered her his hand in marriage. No sooner did she learn that her wealthy and distinguished suitor was a Calvinist than she refused him without an instant’s hesitation; although, in the eyes of the world, the connection would have been a highly desirable one.
Such are some of the objections which art urged against the obedience we owe to our mother the holy Catholic Church. These objections are put forward by those who have imbibed the principles of an evil world. It is very possible that you, my dear it, if obedience should require a sacrifice at your hands, may be tempted to cloak your disobedience under some such objections as we have just been considering. But for the sake of your temporal and eternal happiness beware of yielding to the temptation! You perceive how futile and unstable are all these objections. Be faithful and obedient to your holy, loving mother the Church!
In sorrow or joy, she stands at my side,
My light and my refuge, my guard and my guide.
The Forget-me-not—Piety.