Page:Essays on Catholicism, Liberalism, and Socialism.djvu/81

power. The Apostles were the first to experience this change. They had not seen, and their eyes were opened; they had not comprehended, and they were enlightened; they were ignorant, and they became wise; their language had been vulgar, and now they discoursed of wonderful things. The malediction of Babel was removed. Until then, each nation had spoken its own tongue; the Apostles spoke them all without confusion. They had been pusillanimous, and they became courageous; they had been cowardly, and they became intrepid; they had been indolent, and they became diligent. They had forsaken their Master for the flesh and the world, and now they abandoned the world and the flesh for their Master; they had deserted the cross to save their lives, and now they gave their lives to embrace the cross. They died in their members, that their souls might live, and be renewed in God; they ceased to be as men, and lived like angels; they no longer lived a human life.

As the Holy Spirit transformed the Apostles, the Apostles transformed the world; yet not they in truth, but the invincible spirit that was infused into them. The world had seen God, and had not known him; and, now that he was no longer with it, it acknowledged him. It had not believed in his word, and, now that he no longer spoke to it, it believed in his word. It had witnessed his miracles in vain, and, now that he had gone to his father, it received them as true. It had crucified Jesus, and now it adored him whom it had crucified. It had worshiped idols, and now it destroyed them. What it had considered as fallacious arguments, it now assented to as invincible and victorious truths. Its profound hatred was changed into love.