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Charred Wood Myles Muredach 13430K 2023-09-02

"You are clear, Father, and I know you are right I have never been able to leaveto excuse nore it, for it intruded itself and forced attention In fact, it has been forcing itself upon ain," said Father Murray, "a reason why you should have attended to it If there is a divine revelation confided to the care of a church, that revelation is for the sake of ht to existence for its own sake He was a wise Pope who called himself 'Servant of the Servants of God' The position of your Church--for I must look upon you as a Catholic--is, that a divine revelation has been made If it has beenthenwill last as long as the revelation needs conserving, which is to the end of the world Now, only the Catholic Church claims that she has the care of that revelation--that she is the conserving force; which means that she is--as I have told you before--a 'City set upon a Mountain' She can't help hts She h your life She can pernore her Kick her out one door, and she will come in another She is in your art, your music, your literature, your laws, your customs, your very vices as well as your virtues--as she was destined to be It is her destiny--her e it if she would"

Mark drew in a deep breath that sounded like a sigh "I suppose, Father," he said, "I could argue with you and dispute with you; under other circumstances perhaps I should I hate to think that I ue, and I aot it The questions I asked were only for the purpose of drawing you out But here is another: Why should any institution come between a man and his God? Is that necessary?"

The priest's eyes held a far-away look It was some little while before he spoke, and then very slowly, as if carefully weighing his words

"There is nothing," said the priest, "between the trees and the flowers and their God--but they are only trees and flowers; they live, but they neither think nor feel There is nothing between the lower anih they live and feel, they have none of the higher power of thought If God had wantedmore than the lower animals? Man cannot live and feel only and still be a man He must feed not only his body but his heart and soul and intellect Thebetween themselves and their God are ence demands action by the intellect; and there must be a foundation upon which to base action When the foundation is in place, there never can be any li upon it Now, God willed all that He created the condition and is, therefore, obliged to satisfy the desires of that condition Some day He ed only to keep theive them the means to keep fed Of course, He could do that by a direct revelation to each individual; but that He has not done so is proved by the fact that, while there can be but one Truth, yet each individual who 'goes it alone' has a different conception of it The idea of private religious inspiration has produced public religious anarchy Now, God could not will religious anarchy--He loves truth toothat His very nature would force Him to do He must have confided His revelation to His Church in order to preserve it, to teach it, to keep it forany man or institution between His you over a danger an interference with your liberty? Liberty, e of seeing The light that shows things to your eyes is not an interference between those things and your eyes The road you take to your destination is not an obstacle to your reaching it"