Page:Essays on Catholicism, Liberalism, and Socialism.djvu/317

word in the most faithful manner, for God neither threatens nor promises in vain. He had threatened to disinherit man if he abused his liberty and committed sin, and man having sinned God disinherited him. When God disinherited man He promised him a Redeemer, and at the appointed time He came in person to effect man's redemption.

The coming of the Saviour solves all mysteries, explains all dogmas, and accomplishes all laws. In order to fulfill the law of solidarity he takes upon himself all human sorrows, and in order to fulfill that of reversibility, he gives to the world the abundance of divine graces which he acquired for it by his passion and death. In Him God becomes man in so perfect a manner that upon him rests the full weight of divine wrath, and in him man is so perfect and divine that all the heavenly mercies fall upon him in refreshing and consoling showers. In order that pain might become holy, he sanctifies it by his sufferings, and in order that its acceptance might become meritorious he accepts it himself. Who would have the strength to offer his own will to God as a holocaust, if the Man-God had not made an entire abnegation of his own will, in order to accomplish that of his most holy Father? Who could elevate himself to the grandeur of humility, if the most humble and patient Lamb of God had not pointed out the way by which to attain a height so difficult to reach? And who, rising still higher, could overcome, one after the other, the many painful obstacles which obstruct the progress to perfection, until the sublime heights of divine love are gained, if the Saviour had not trodden that dolorous path, and crimsoned with his most pure blood every step of that sorrowful way? Who but Him