Page:SermonsFromTheLatins.djvu/472

 Him into  a  spiritual  abode  here  on  earth,  we  may  be received  by  Him  into  the  mansions  of  bliss,  hereafter in heaven.

Faith, therefore,  was  the  foundation  of  the spiritual' mansion  in  which  Mary  received  her  Lord, and we,  too,  if  we  wish  Him  to  visit  and  abide  with us, must  build  Him  an  abode  founded  on  faith. " Without  faith,"  says  St.  Paul,  "  it  is  impossible  to please  God,  for  he  that  cometh  to  God  must  believe that  He  is,  and  is  a  rewarder  to  them  that  seek  Him." This foundation  must  be  laid,  not  on  the  earth  or  the shifting sand,  but  on  the  firm  rock,  and  that  rock  is Christ  Jesus. " No  one,"  says  St.  Paul,  "  must  lay any  other  foundation  but  that  which  has  been  laid, which  is  Christ  Jesus." Heretics and  Jews  and  even Pagans believe  in  the  doctrine  of  good  works,  and some even  have  a  smattering  of  faith,  but  still  they do not  please  God,  because  their  faith  is  not  the  faith of Christ. Our Lord  does  not  dwell  with  them,  because the  abodes  they  offer  Him  are  unstable  structures with  false  foundations. But if  perchance  they believe in  Christ  still  do  they  err  in  rejecting  from their faith  Christ's  earthly  Vicar. For although  it  is forbidden  to  lay  any  foundation  but  that  already  laid, Christ Jesus,  yet  Christ  is,  as  it  were,  the  solid  bed  of rock  and  Peter  is  the  first  stone  laid  thereon  by  Christ Himself when  He  said:  "Thou  art  Peter  and  upon this  rock  I  will  build  My  Church." For we  receive revealed truths  relying  on  the  infallibility  of  Christ; and when  question  arises  which  truth  is  revealed  and which is  not,  we  look  for  answer  to  Peter  or  his  suc-