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In the previous chapter you have seen that the Church is the best and kindest of mothers; that you owe her a deep debt of gratitude for the innumerable spiritual benefits she has bestowed upon you. And I trust that your actions will always be in accordance with the serious advice I have given you, and that you will show yourself to be her loving and obedient child. Obedience is the ornament of the true Christian, and as a Catholic girl it ought to be your brightest ornament, to obey your loving mother, the Catholic Church, at all times and in every respect. I desire to impress this upon you earnestly and forcibly, while I have the opportunity, in the hope that my words may continue to sound in your ears in your later life.
You may deem it unnecessary thus to exhort you to obey the Church. Perhaps you think that this goes without speaking, and that it is very easy and quite a matter of course. It is true that for girls who are naturally docile, and have been religiously brought up, it may be a matter of course, and no great difficulty to sanctify Sunday, to hear Mass on all Sundays and holy days of obligation, to go to confession and communion more than once a year, to keep the fasts as far as they are bound to do so, and not to marry at forbidden seasons.
But picture to yourself the position of a girl who, possessing no fortune, would gladly be provided for by means of an advantageous marriage. Suppose she gets no suitable offer until she is verging upon middle age, and then a non-Catholic, a Protestant, comes forward with a highly desirable proposal, but says from the outset that he will not comply with the conditions the Church makes in such cases. If in addition to this the strong, alluring flame of passion suddenly blazes up in her heart, you must understand, in some measure at least, how difficult, how terribly difficult, it would be for anyone thus circumstanced not to set aside the prohibition of the Church, which forbid mixed marriages without a dispensation; how hard it would be to refuse the offer.
Alas! Alas! how many girls, some even of a religious turn of mind, whose conduct is irreproachable in every other respect, who have been educated in Catholic schools and instructed in the doctrines of the faith, how many, I say, can not stand when a trial of this nature overtakes them. They become disobedient, rebel against God and the Church, finish by apostatizing, and thus perhaps are ruined both for time and for eternity.
The welfare of your immortal soul is so dear to me, and the interest I take in your future happiness is so deep, that I can leave no stone unturned, I can spare no effort in order to preserve you from taking so fatal, so unfortunate a step as to contract a union forbidden by God and by the Church. Therefore I earnestly beseech you, I entreat you as forcibly as I can, to listen at all times, and more especially when there is a question of your marriage, to the voice of your loving mother, the Church—to listen, and also to obey.
I will not now explain the reasons why holy Church forbids marriage with a non-Catholic unless a dispensation is previously obtained. I shall treat this subject more fully in another place, and I shall also show why the Church grants dispensations in particular cases. At present I wish merely to enlarge upon the strict nature of the prohibition.
A Catholic girl who marries a non-Catholic and permits the children of the marriage to be baptized and brought up in their father’s religion, rather than in her own, commits a most grievous sin. For she robs her children of the priceless treasure of the Catholic faith with all its innumerable graces and blessings; she makes them strangers to the true Church. Through her disobedience she excludes herself also from the Church; she can be absolved from the grievous sin she has committed only through sincere repentance for her fault, and a resolution to remedy the evil consequences of it, as far as may lie in her power.
The Church does indeed intend her prohibition to be taken very seriously. Obey her voice; do not keep company with a non-Catholic, in order that your faith may not be exposed to danger: in order that your happiness may not be jeopardized.
Some years ago, a young German girl went to school in Switzerland. After her education was finished, she stayed for several months in that country, and received before long several most advantageous offers of marriage. She possessed a not inconsiderable fortune for one in her position, about 12,500 dollars. I may here remark in passing, that if you are not rich you ought to thank almighty God for that, for in marriage a wealthy girl is often sought after not for herself, but for her bank notes and securities.
So at least it was in the case to which I am now referring. The young lady refused honorable proposals which were made to her by Catholics, and gave her affections to a Protestant who had flattered her to her heart’s content. She married him, without troubling herself about the prohibition of the Church. But how long did her happiness last? Before two years had elapsed, the greater part of her fortune had been squandered, the demon of poverty and discontent entered the home of the unhappy wife,—and a separation soon followed. Her husband even sought her life, in order that he might become possessed of the remainder of the property.
While she was in this miserable plight, she happened one day to meet with a former schoolfellow, to whom, amid tears and sobs, she told her pitiful story. Striking her forehead she exclaimed: “O what a fool I was! I had several good offers yet I was blind enough to marry this brute, and to disregard the command of the Church. Stupid fool that I was; would that I had listened to the voice of the Catholic Church!”
Do you, my child, always listen to, and obey the voice of the Church, your watchful mother. Obedience is the Christian’s ornament. Pray for grace and strength from above, in order that if it should please God to put your obedience to so severe a test, you may be able to remain steadfast. Mistrust your own strength and insight; be very humble, for it is to the humble that God gives His grace.
Great God, whatever through Thy Church
Thou teachest to be true,
I firmly do believe it all—
And will confess it too.