Page:The Great Encyclical Letters of Pope Leo XIII.djvu/473



CHRIST OUR REDEEMER. 467

Men wander very far in aimless error from the goal once they have entered upon devious paths. Likewise, if the pure and unsullied light of truth be rejected, men's minds must needs be buried in darkness and deceived by the depraved fancies that meet them at every step. What hope can there be of health for those who forsake the fountain and source of life? Christ is alone the way, the truth, and the life,^ and if we despise Him, we lose these three indispensable requisites of salvation.

There is no need to dilate upon what experience con- tinually teaches, and in his heart every one feels, even when abounding in earthly goods that only in God can the heart of man find absolute and complete repose. In very truth, the end of man is God ; and the time we spend on earth is more truly likened and compared to a pilgrim- age. Christ, then, is for us the way, because from this mortal journeying of ours, which is so especially toilsome and so beset with danger, we can only attain to God, our chief and final good, with Christ to guide and direct us. No man cometh to the Father bvt by Me? But by Me â€” that is to say, first and chiefly, by His grace. Yet, if His precepts and laws are despised, His grace is void. As it behooved him to do, when He had wrought our salva- tion, Jesus Christ left us His law, as the custodian and director of the human race, so that under its guidance men might turn from evil ways and safely attain to God. Go teach ye all nations. . . teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you ; ^ keep My com- mandments.* By this we ought to understand that it is the chief and absolutely essential thing for those who confess Christ to be docile to the precepts of Jesus Christ, and to hold our will submissive and devoted to Him as Our Lord and supreme Ruler. A great undertaking and frequently entailing a hard struggle and demanding much labor and steadiness of purpose. For, albeit human

Â» John xiv. 6. ^ Matt, xxviii. 19, 20.

' Ibid. * John xiv. 15.