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 Very great virtue; because it is given in the name of the Church, through the merits of Jesus Christ, and comes from God Himself, Whose ministers and stewards the priests are. Parents should see that their children are blessed by the priests who may come to visit them, as the children were brought to Our Saviour, that He might lay His hands on them, and bless them (Matt. xix. 13).

How is Christ the fall and resurrection of many in Israel?

He is the fall, that is, the damnation, of those who do not receive Him, though they know Him to be the Saviour of the world; and of those also who believe in Him, and receive His holy teaching, but do not live according to it. " If Christ had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin " (St. John xv. 22). He is the resurrection or salvation of those who believe in Him, receive His doctrine, and live according to it.

What is the meaning of, " He is a sign which shall be contradicted"?

This was a prophecy that Jesus Christ, His life, works, teaching, and institutions should be the object of continual contradiction on the part of sensual and worldly wisdom. It was fulfilled in the blasphemies and persecutions of the Jews and gentiles, and is confirmed by infidels of all ages, as well as by those Christians who, as St. Bernard says, contradict His humility by their pride, His poverty by their avarice, His fasting by their intemperance, His purity by their impurity, His zeal by their sloth; thus confessing Him with their lips, but denying Him by their deeds. They are not faithful and sincere towards Jesus, and do not love Him, for they do not obey His holy will; they are Christians only in name, of whom Christ is not the resurrection, but the fall, for they are yet the slaves of sin. What is meant by those words, " thy own soul a sword shall pierce?

That Mary would have to suffer inexpressible pains and sorrows that would pierce her heart as with a sword. Time made this plain; for how often was not her beloved Son pursued and persecuted? Yet the greatest grief she felt must have been when she saw her Son in His sufferings and death, hanging, like a malefactor, on the cross.