LIFE IN CHRIST: chap. 4, part 4

Lent with Fr Harton

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CHAPTER 4: THE BREAD OF LIFE (part 4)

In the world to-day individuality counts for less than it has probably ever done in the history of civilization, and there is a real danger that it may be unduly minimized the Church also. We are rightly being recalled to a sense of our responsibility to the whole Body, a responsibility which has too often and too widely been lost sight of, but there is a danger that in this recall it may be forgotten that that responsibility¹ is one which is discharged by individuals; that if Christ dwells in the Church, as He most certainly does, He also dwells in each man, woman, and child who belongs to that Church, and He cannot save the world completely through the Church unless He is doing it through every individual who composes it. The value of each soul is incalculable not because man is, as used to be said, the crown of creation, but because God loves each one of us personally and because He makes us agents of His Son Who gives Himself to us in the Blessed Sacrament that He may save the world through us.

If this is so, no Christian has any right to be content with his own sinfulness and mediocrity. If we realize the whole wonder of our vocation, we shall seek to give ourselves, humbly, penitently, and generously, to our Lord Who gives Himself so perfectly to us; we shall desire to be wholly and not only partly filled with Him. This demands self-discipline (of which we are not now thinking) and a regular approach to the Blessed Sacrament.