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Title: |
Tametsi Futura Prospicientibus
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Descr.: |
On Jesus Christ The Redeemer
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Pope: |
Pope Leo XIII
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Date: |
November 1, 1900
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To
Our Venerable Brethren, the Patriarchs, Primates, Archbishops,
Bishops, and Other Local Ordinaries Having Peace and Communion
with the Holy See.
Venerable
Brethren, Health and Apostolic Benediction.
1.
The outlook on the future is by no means free from anxiety; on the
contrary, there are many serious reasons for alarm, on account of
numerous and long-standing causes of evil, of both a public and a
private nature. Nevertheless, the close of the century really
seems in God's mercy to afford us some degree of consolation and
hope. For no one will deny that renewed interest in spiritual
matters and a revival of Christian faith and piety are influences
of great moment for the common good. And there are sufficiently
clear indications at the present day of a very general revival or
augmentation of these virtues. For example, in the very midst of
worldly allurements and in spite of so many obstacles to piety,
what great crowds have flocked to Rome to visit the
"Threshold of the Apostles" at the invitation of the
Sovereign Pontiff! Both Italians and foreigners are openly
devoting themselves to religious exercises, and, relying upon the
indulgences offered by the Church, are most earnestly seeking the
means to secure their eternal salvation. Who could fail to be
moved by the present evident increase of devotion towards the
person of Our Savior? The ardent zeal of so many thousands, united
in heart and mind, "from the rising of the sun to the going
down thereof," in venerating the Name of Jesus Christ and
proclaiming His praises, is worthy of the best days of
Christianity. Would that the outburst of these flames of antique
faith might be followed by a mighty conflagration! Would that the
splendid example of so many might kindle the enthusiasm of all!
For what so necessary for our times as a widespread renovation
among the nations of Christian principles and old-fashioned
virtues? The great misfortune is that too many turn a deaf ear and
will not listen to the teachings of this revival of piety. Yet,
"did they but know the gift of God," did they but
realize that the greatest of all misfortunes is to fall away from
the World's Redeemer and to abandon Christian faith and practice,
they would be only too eager to turn back, and so escape certain
destruction.
2.
The most important duty of the Church, and the one most peculiarly
her own, is to defend and to propagate throughout the world the
Kingdom of the Son of God, and to bring all men to salvation by
communicating to them the divine benefits, so much so that her
power and authority are chiefly exercised in this one work.
Towards this end We are conscious of having devoted Our energies
throughout Our difficult and anxious Pontificate even to the
present day. And you too, Venerable Brethren, are wont constantly,
yea daily, to give your chief thoughts and endeavors together with
Ourselves to the self same task. But at the present moment all of
us ought to make still further efforts, more especially on the
occasion of the Holy Year, to disseminate far and wide the better
knowledge and love of Jesus Christ by teaching, persuading,
exhorting, if perchance our voice can be heard; and this, not so
much to those who are ever ready to listen willingly to Christian
teachings, but to those most unfortunate men who, whilst
professing the Christian name, live strangers to the faith and
love of Christ. For these we feel the profoundest pity: these
above all would we urge to think seriously of their present life
and what its consequences will be if they do not repent.
3.
The greatest of all misfortunes is never to have known Jesus
Christ: yet such a state is free from the sin of obstinacy and
ingratitude. But first to have known Him, and afterwards to deny
or forget Him, is a crime so foul and so insane that it seems
impossible for any man to be guilty of it. For Christ is the
fountain-head of all good. Mankind can no more be saved without
His power, than it could be redeemed without His mercy.
"Neither is there salvation in any other. For there is no
other name under heaven given to men whereby we must be
saved" (Acts iv, 12). What kind of life that is from which
Jesus Christ, "the power of God and the wisdom of God,"
is excluded; what kind of morality and what manner of death are
its consequences, can be clearly learnt from the example of
nations deprived of the light of Christianity. If we but recall
St. Paul's description (Romans i., 24-32) of the mental blindness,
the natural depravity, the monstrous superstitions and lusts of
such peoples, our minds will be filled with horror and pity. What
we here record is well enough known, but not sufficiently realized
or thought about. Pride would not mislead, nor indifference
enervate, so many minds, if the Divine mercies were more generally
called to mind and if it were remembered from what an abyss Christ
delivered mankind and to what a height He raised it. The human
race, exiled and disinherited, had for ages been daily hurrying
into ruin, involved in the terrible and numberless ills brought
about by the sin of our first parents, nor was there any human
hope of salvation, when Christ Our Lord came down as the Savior
from Heaven. At the very beginning of the world, God had promised
Him as the conqueror of "the Serpent" [that is, Satan], hence, succeeding
ages had eagerly looked forward to His coming. The Prophets had
long and clearly declared that all hope was in Him. The varying
fortunes, the achievements, customs, laws, ceremonies and
sacrifices of the Chosen People had distinctly and lucidly
foreshadowed the truth, that the salvation of mankind was to be
accomplished in Him who should be the Priest, Victim, Liberator,
Prince of Peace, Teacher of all Nations, Founder of an Eternal
Kingdom. By all these titles, images and prophecies, differing in
kind though like in meaning, He alone was designated who "for
His exceeding charity wherewith He loved us," gave Himself up
for our salvation. And so, when the fullness of time came in God's
Divine Providence, the only-begotten Son of God became man, and in
behalf of mankind made most abundant satisfaction in His Blood to
the outraged majesty of His Father and by this infinite price He
redeemed man for His own. "You were not redeemed with
corruptible things as gold or silver...but with the precious Blood
of Christ..." (1 Peter i.,
18-19). Thus all men, though already subject to His Kingly power,
inasmuch as He is the Creator and Preserver of all, were over and
above made His property by a true and real purchase. "You are
not your own: for you are bought with a great price" (2
Corinthians vi, 19-20). Hence in Christ all things are made new.
"The mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure
which He hath purposed to Him, in the dispensation of the fullness
of times to re-establish all things in Christ" (Ephesians i.,
9-10). When Jesus Christ had blotted out the handwriting of the
decree that was against us, fastening it to the cross, at once
God's wrath was appeased, the primeval fetters of slavery were
struck off from unhappy and erring man, God's favor was won back,
grace restored, the gates of Heaven opened, the right to enter
them revived, and the means afforded of doing so. Then man, as
though awakening from a long-continued and deadly lethargy, beheld
at length the light of the truth, for long ages desired, yet
sought in vain. First of all, he realized that he was born to much
higher and more glorious things than the frail and inconstant
objects of sense which had hitherto formed the end of his thoughts
and cares. He learnt that the meaning of human life, the supreme
law, the end of all things was this: that we come from God and
must return to Him. From this first principle the consciousness of
human dignity was revived: men's hearts realized the universal
brotherhood: as a consequence, human rights and duties were either
perfected or even newly created, whilst on all sides were evoked
virtues undreamt of in pagan philosophy. Thus men's aims, life,
habits and customs received a new direction. As the knowledge of
the Redeemer spread far and wide and His power, which destroyeth
ignorance and former vices, penetrated into the very life-blood of
the nations, such a change came about that the face of the world
was entirely altered by the creation of a Christian civilization.
The remembrance of these events, Venerable Brethren, is full of
infinite joy, but it also teaches us the lesson that we must both
feel and render with our whole hearts gratitude to our Divine
Savior.
4.
We are indeed now very far removed in time from the first
beginnings of Redemption; but what difference does this make when
the benefits thereof are perennial and immortal? He who once hath
restored human nature ruined by sin the same preserveth and will
preserve it forever. "He gave Himself a redemption for
all" (1 Timothy ii., 6)."In Christ all shall be made
alive" (1 Corinthians xv., 22). "And of His Kingdom
there shall be no end" (Luke i., 33). Hence by God's eternal
decree the salvation of all men, both severally and collectively,
depends upon Jesus Christ. Those who abandon Him become guilty by
the very fact, in their blindness and folly, of their own ruin;
whilst at the same time they do all that in them lies to bring
about a violent reaction of mankind in the direction of that mass
of evils and miseries from which the Redeemer in His mercy had
freed them.
5.
Those who go astray from the road wander far from the goal they
aim at. Similarly, if the pure and true light of truth be
rejected, men's minds must necessarily be darkened and their souls
deceived by deplorably false ideas. What hope of salvation can
they have who abandon the very principle and fountain of life?
Christ alone is the Way, the Truth and the Life (John xiv., 6). If
He be abandoned the three necessary conditions of salvation are
removed.
Christ
the Way
6.
It is surely unnecessary to prove, what experience constantly
shows and what each individual feels in himself, even in the very
midst of all temporal prosperity - that in God alone can the human
will find absolute and perfect peace. God is the only end of man.
All our life on earth is the truthful and exact image of a
pilgrimage. Now Christ is the "Way," for we can never
reach God, the supreme and ultimate good, by this toilsome and
doubtful road of mortal life, except with Christ as our leader and
guide. How so? Firstly and chiefly by His grace; but this would
remain "void" in man if the precepts of His law were
neglected. For, as was necessarily the case after Jesus Christ had
won our salvation, He left behind Him His Law for the protection
and welfare of the human race, under the guidance of which men,
converted from evil life, might safely tend towards God.
"Going, teach ye all nations...teaching them to observe all
things whatsoever I have commanded you" (Matthew xxviii.,
19-20). "Keep my commandments" (John xiv., 15). Hence it
will be understood that in the Christian religion the first and
most necessary condition is docility to the precepts of Jesus
Christ, absolute loyalty of will towards Him as Lord and King. A
serious duty, and one which oftentimes calls for strenuous labor,
earnest endeavor, and perseverance! For although by Our Redeemer's
grace human nature hath been regenerated, still there remains in
each individual a certain debility and tendency to evil. Various
natural appetites attract man on one side and the other; the
allurements of the material world impel his soul to follow after
what is pleasant rather than the law of Christ. Still we must
strive our best and resist our natural inclinations with all our
strength "unto the obedience of Christ." For unless they
obey reason they become our masters, and carrying the whole man
away from Christ, make him their slave. "Men of corrupt mind,
who have made shipwreck of the faith, cannot help being
slaves...They are slaves to a threefold concupiscence: of will, of
pride, or of outward show" (St. Augustine, De Vera Religione,
37). In this contest every man must be prepared to undergo
hardships and troubles for Christ's sake. It is difficult to
reject what so powerfully entices and delights. It is hard and
painful to despise the supposed goods of the senses and of fortune
for the will and precepts of Christ our Lord. But the Christian is
absolutely obliged to be firm, and patient in suffering, if he
wish to lead a Christian life. Have we forgotten of what Body and
of what Head we are the members? "Having joy set before Him,
He endured the Cross," and He bade us deny ourselves. The
very dignity of human nature depends upon this disposition of
mind. For, as even the ancient Pagan philosophy perceived, to be
master of oneself and to make the lower part of the soul, obey the
superior part, is so far from being a weakness of will that it is
really a noble power, in consonance with right reason and most
worthy of a man. Moreover, to bear and to suffer is the ordinary
condition of man. Man can no more create for himself a life free
from suffering and filled with all happiness than he can abrogate
the decrees of his Divine Maker, who has willed that the
consequences of original sin should be perpetual. It is
reasonable, therefore, not to expect an end to troubles in this
world, but rather to steel one's soul to bear troubles, by which
we are taught to look forward with certainty to supreme happiness.
Christ has not promised eternal bliss in heaven to riches, nor to
a life of ease, to honors or to power, but to long-suffering and
to tears, to the love of justice and to cleanness of heart.
7.
From this it may clearly be seen what consequences are to be
expected from that false pride which, rejecting our Savior's
Kingship, places man at the summit of all things and declares that
human nature must rule supreme. And yet, this supreme rule can
neither be attained nor even defined. The rule of Jesus Christ
derives its form and its power from Divine Love: a holy and
orderly charity is both its foundation and its crown. Its
necessary consequences are the strict fulfillment of duty, respect
of mutual rights, the estimation of the things of heaven above
those of earth, the preference of the love of God to all things.
But this supremacy of man, which openly rejects Christ, or at
least ignores Him, is entirely founded upon selfishness, knowing
neither charity nor self-devotion. Man may indeed be king, through
Jesus Christ: but only on condition that he first of all obey God,
and diligently seek his rule of life in God's law. By the law of
Christ we mean not only the natural precepts of morality and the
Ancient Law, all of which Jesus Christ has perfected and crowned
by His declaration, explanation and sanction; but also the rest of
His doctrine and His own peculiar institutions. Of these the chief
is His Church. Indeed whatsoever things Christ has instituted are
most fully contained in His Church. Moreover, He willed to
perpetuate the office assigned to Him by His Father by means of
the ministry of the Church so gloriously founded by Himself. On
the one hand He confided to her all the means of men's salvation,
on the other He most solemnly commanded men to be subject to her
and to obey her diligently, and to follow her even as Himself:
"He that heareth you, heareth Me; and he that despiseth you,
despiseth Me" (Luke x, 16). Wherefore the law of Christ must
be sought in the Church. Christ is man's "Way"; the
Church also is his "Way" - Christ of Himself and by His
very nature, the Church by His commission and the communication of
His power. Hence all who would find salvation apart from the
Church, are led astray and strive in vain.
8.
As with individuals, so with nations. These, too, must necessarily
tend to ruin if they go astray from "The Way." The Son
of God, the Creator and Redeemer of mankind, is King and Lord of
the earth, and holds supreme dominion over men, both individually
and collectively. "And He gave Him power, and glory, and a
kingdom: and all peoples, tribes, and tongues shall serve
Him" (Daniel vii., 14). "I am appointed King by Him...I
will give Thee the Gentiles for Thy inheritance, and the uttermost
parts of the earth for Thy possession" (Psalm ii., 6, 8).
Therefore the law of Christ ought to prevail in human society and
be the guide and teacher of public as well as of private life.
Since this is so by divine decree, and no man may with impunity
contravene it, it is an evil thing for the common weal wherever
Christianity does not hold the place that belongs to it. When
Jesus Christ is absent, human reason fails, being bereft of its
chief protection and light, and the very end is lost sight of, for
which, under God's providence, human society has been built up.
This end is the obtaining by the members of society of natural
good through the aid of civil unity, though always in harmony with
the perfect and eternal good which is above nature. But when men's
minds are clouded, both rulers and ruled go astray, for they have
no safe line to follow nor end to aim at.
Christ
the Truth
9.
Just as it is the height of misfortune to go astray from the Way, so is it to abandon the
Truth. Christ
Himself is the first, absolute and essential Truth,
inasmuch as He is the Word of God, consubstantial and co-eternal
with the Father, He and the Father being One. "I am the Way
and the Truth." Wherefore if the Truth be sought by the human
intellect, it must first of all submit it to Jesus Christ, and
securely rest upon His teaching, since therein Truth itself
speaketh. There are innumerable and extensive fields of thought,
properly belonging to the human mind, in which it may have free
scope for its investigations and speculations, and that not only
agreeable to its nature, but even by a necessity of its nature.
But what is unlawful and unnatural is that the human mind should
refuse to be restricted within its proper limits, and, throwing
aside its becoming modesty, should refuse to acknowledge Christ's
teaching. This teaching, upon which our salvation depends, is
almost entirely about God and the things of God. No human wisdom
has invented it, but the Son of God hath received and drunk it in
entirely from His Father: "The words which thou gavest me, I
have given to them" (John xvii., 8). Hence this teaching
necessarily embraces many subjects which are not indeed contrary
to reason - for that would be an impossibility - but so exalted that
we can no more attain them by our own reasoning than we can
comprehend God as He is in Himself. If there be so many things
hidden and veiled by nature, which no human ingenuity can explain,
and yet which no man in his senses can doubt, it would be an abuse
of liberty to refuse to accept those which are entirely above
nature, because their essence cannot be discovered. To reject
dogma is simply to deny Christianity. Our intellect must bow
humbly and reverently "unto the obedience of Christ," so
that it be held captive by His divinity and authority:
"bringing into captivity every understanding unto the
obedience of Christ" (2 Corinthians x., 5). Such obedience
Christ requires, and justly so. For He is God, and as such holds
supreme dominion over man's intellect as well as over his will. By
obeying Christ with his intellect man by no means acts in a
servile manner, but in complete accordance with his reason and his
natural dignity. For by his will he yields, not to the authority
of any man, but to that of God, the author of his being, and the
first principle to Whom he is subject by the very law of his
nature. He does not suffer himself to be forced by the theories of
any human teacher, but by the eternal and unchangeable truth.
Hence he attains at one and the same time the natural good of the
intellect and his own liberty. For the truth which proceeds from
the teaching of Christ clearly demonstrates the real nature and
value of every being; and man, being endowed with this knowledge,
if he but obey the truth as perceived, will make all things
subject to himself, not himself to them; his appetites to his
reason, not his reason to his appetites. Thus the slavery of sin
and falsehood will be shaken off, and the most perfect liberty
attained: "You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make
you free" (John viii., 32). It is, then, evident that those
whose intellect rejects the yoke of Christ are obstinately
striving against God. Having shaken off God's authority, they are
by no means freer, for they will fall beneath some human sway.
They are sure to choose someone whom they will listen to, obey,
and follow as their guide. Moreover, they withdraw their intellect
from the communication of divine truths, and thus limit it within
a narrower circle of knowledge, so that they are less fitted to
succeed in the pursuit even of natural science. For there are in
nature very many things whose apprehension or explanation is
greatly aided by the light of divine truth. Not infrequently, too,
God, in order to chastise their pride, does not permit men to see
the truth, and thus they are punished in the things wherein they
sin. This is why we often see men of great intellectual power and
erudition making the grossest blunders even in natural science.
10.
It must therefore be clearly admitted that, in the life of a
Christian, the intellect must be entirely subject to God's
authority. And if, in this submission of reason to authority, our
self-love, which is so strong, is restrained and made to suffer,
this only proves the necessity to a Christian of long-suffering
not only in will but also in intellect. We would remind those
persons of this truth who desire a kind of Christianity such as
they themselves have devised, whose precepts should be very mild,
much more indulgent towards human nature, and requiring little if
any hardships to be borne. They do not properly understand the
meaning of faith and Christian precepts. They do not see that the
Cross meets us everywhere, the model of our life, the eternal
standard of all who wish to follow Christ in reality and not
merely in name.
Christ
the Life
11.
God alone is Life. All other beings partake of life, but are not
life. Christ, from all eternity and by His very nature, is
"the Life," just as He is the Truth, because He is God
of God. From Him, as from its most sacred source, all life
pervades and ever will pervade creation. Whatever is, is by Him;
whatever lives, lives by Him. For by the Word "all things
were made; and without Him was made nothing that was made."
This is true of the natural life; but, as We have sufficiently
indicated above, we have a much higher and better life, won for us
by Christ's mercy, that is to say, "the life of grace,"
whose happy consummation is "the life of glory," to
which all our thoughts and actions ought to be directed. The whole
object of Christian doctrine and morality is that "we being
dead to sin, should live to justice" (I Peter ii., 24) - that
is, to virtue and holiness. In this consists the moral life, with
the certain hope of a happy eternity. This justice, in order to be
advantageous to salvation, is nourished by Christian faith.
"The just man liveth by faith" (Galatians iii., II).
"Without faith it is impossible to please God" (Hebrews
xi., 6). Consequently Jesus Christ, the creator and preserver of
faith, also preserves and nourishes our moral life. This He does
chiefly by the ministry of His Church. To Her, in His wise and
merciful counsel, He has entrusted certain agencies which engender
the supernatural life, protect it, and revive it if it should
fail. This generative and conservative power of the virtues that
make for salvation is therefore lost, whenever morality is
dissociated from divine faith. A system of morality based
exclusively on human reason robs man of his highest dignity and
lowers him from the supernatural to the merely natural life. Not
but that man is able by the right use of reason to know and to
obey certain principles of the natural law. But though he should
know them all and keep them inviolate through life - and even this
is impossible without the aid of the grace of our Redeemer - still
it is vain for anyone without faith to promise himself eternal
salvation. "If anyone abide not in Me, he shall be cast forth
as a branch, and shall wither, and they shall gather him up and
cast him into the fire, and he burneth" (John xv., 6).
"He that believeth not shall be condemned" (Mark xvi.,
16). We have but too much evidence of the value and result of a
morality divorced from divine faith. How is it that, in spite of
all the zeal for the welfare of the masses, nations are in such
straits and even distress, and that the evil is daily on the
increase? We are told that society is quite able to help itself;
that it can flourish without the assistance of Christianity, and
attain its end by its own unaided efforts. Public administrators
prefer a purely secular system of government. All traces of the
religion of our forefathers are daily disappearing from political
life and administration. What blindness! Once the idea of the
authority of God as the Judge of right and wrong is forgotten, law
must necessarily lose its primary authority and justice must
perish: and these are the two most powerful and most necessary
bonds of society. Similarly, once the hope and expectation of
eternal happiness is taken away, temporal goods will be greedily
sought after. Every man will strive to secure the largest share
for himself. Hence arise envy, jealousy, hatred. The consequences
are conspiracy, anarchy, nihilism. There is neither peace abroad
nor security at home. Public life is stained with crime.
12.
So great is this struggle of the passions and so serious the
dangers involved, that we must either anticipate ultimate ruin or
seek for an efficient remedy. It is of course both right and
necessary to punish malefactors, to educate the masses, and by
legislation to prevent crime in every possible way: but all this
is by no means sufficient. The salvation of the nations must be
looked for higher. A power greater than human must be called in to
teach men's hearts, awaken in them the sense of duty, and make
them better. This is the power which once before saved the world
from destruction when groaning under much more terrible evils.
Once impediments are removed and the Christian spirit is allowed to
revive and grow strong in a nation, that nation will be
healed. The strife between the classes and the masses will die
away; mutual rights will be respected. If Christ be listened to,
both rich and poor will do their duty. The former will realize
that they must observe justice and charity, the latter
self-restraint and moderation, if both are to be saved. Domestic
life will be firmly established by the salutary fear of God as the
Lawgiver. In the same way the precepts of the natural law, which
dictates respect for lawful authority and obedience to the laws,
will exercise their influence over the people. Seditions and
conspiracies will cease. Wherever Christianity rules over all
without let or hindrance there the order established by Divine
Providence is preserved, and both security and prosperity are the
happy result. The common welfare, then, urgently demands a return
to Him from whom we should never have gone astray; to Him who is
the Way, the Truth, and the Life, - and this on the part not only of
individuals but of society as a whole. We must restore Christ to
this His own rightful position. All elements of the national
life must be made to drink in the Life which proceedeth from Him -
legislation, political institutions, education, marriage and
family life, capital and labor. Everyone must see that the very
growth of civilization which is so ardently desired depends
greatly upon this, since it is fed and grows not so much by
material wealth and prosperity, as by the spiritual qualities of
morality and virtue.
13.
It is rather ignorance than ill-will which keeps multitudes away
from Jesus Christ. There are many who study humanity and the
natural world; few who study the Son of God. The first step, then,
is to substitute knowledge for ignorance, so that He may no longer
be despised or rejected because He is unknown. We call for all
Christians throughout the world to strive all they can to know
their Redeemer as He really is. The more one contemplates Him with
sincere and unprejudiced mind, the clearer does it become that
there can be nothing more salutary than His law, more divine than
His teaching. In this work, your influence, Venerable Brethren,
and the zeal and earnestness of the entire Clergy, can do wonders.
You must look upon it as a chief part of your duty to engrave upon
the minds of your people the true knowledge, the very likeness of
Jesus Christ; to illustrate His charity, His mercies, His
teaching, by your writings and your words, in schools, in
Universities, from the pulpit; wherever opportunity is offered
you. The world has heard enough of the so-called "rights of
man." Let it hear something of the rights of God. That the
time is suitable is proved by the very general revival of
religious feeling already referred to, and especially that
devotion towards Our Savior of which there are so many
indications, and which, please God, we shall hand on to the New
Century as a pledge of happier times to come. But as this
consummation cannot be hoped for except by the aid of divine
grace, let us strive in prayer, with united heart and voice, to
incline Almighty God unto mercy, that He would not suffer those to
perish whom He had redeemed by His Blood. May He look down in
mercy upon this world, which has indeed sinned much, but which has
also suffered much in expiation! And, embracing in His
loving-kindness all races and classes of mankind, may He remember
His own words: "I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will
draw all things to Myself" (John xii., 32).
14.
As a pledge of the Divine favors, and in token of Our fatherly
affection, we lovingly impart to You, Venerable Brethren, and to
your Clergy and People, the Apostolic Blessing.
Given
at St. Peter's in Rome, the first day of November 1900, in the
23rd year of Our Pontificate.
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