The Individual and the Fullness of Sight
How does the individual come to know the truth about life, the truth about the world around him? He does so by understanding that the path to truth is through the Incarnation, which gives him the chance to see the world from the standpoint of the God Who created it. He does so by realizing that seeing the world with Christ's eyes involves recognizing the need for living life in submission to a network of bodies, a corporate society, all of which, natural and supernatural, are meant to cooperate in raising him to eternal happiness. He does so by grasping the fact that the truth about life cannot be reduced to intellectual formulas, for it has variegated contours answerable and appealing to the whole of his humanity, and must be "danced" into with a sense of joy, humility, humor, and mystery. He does so by admitting that the more deeply he plunges into that fullness of life in nature that is a consequence of desiring life in Christ, the more he will know, develop, and hence progress.
Yes, it is true that "the Incarnate Word did not teach reading or writing" and that it is "a profanation to say that the mission of the Son of God was a mission...of social benefit" Nevertheless, the sight that comes from Christ and in Christ through the desire of God to save individual souls has enormous direct and indirect social consequences. A civilization guided by sight of this sort will be led "to the height of greatness,” and "the legitimate consequences, not only for the individual but also for society, for happiness both individual and social, will be for us the highest that can be enjoyed on this earth.” Civilization in its most complete, harmonious sense, capable of extending itself to all cultures without violating their essences, bringing diversity from unity, was born "on Calvary at the foot of the cross" causing "social improvements which it would have been insane to presume possible under the heathens.”
Nothing is superfluous in this movement of all things, through men, in Christ toward Divine Light, because nothing is superfluous to God. When each section of nature plays its proper role, the subordinate submitting to its superior, the superior sacrificing itself, like the Lamb, for its subordinate, then the whole of the universe manifests its desire for restoration in God. But there is no completion of this movement here on earth, and even if there could be, for a moment, the possibility of sin would always leave it open to corruption once again. When the world is properly formed it understands better than ever the fragility of its situation before the end of time and the tremendous grace that consists in the constant supernatural assistance that comes from Christ to keep it in proper working order. It cultivates every part of nature and supernature to live as it should, but more especially it cultivates Christ, since it is only in, through, and in submission to Christ that its individual lords and stewards are divinized.
The Catholic world was once on the path to such a maturity. That world erected by the Revolution in modern times is not. For the Revolution decided that parts of the structure of things were dispensable, the Incarnation most of all. And it is precisely this assault upon God and Nature that fixed a blindfold over the eyes of insightful Catholic men and tried to change them into truly intransigent enemies of truth.
* Reprinted from Removing the Blindfold: Nineteenth-Century Catholics and the Myth of Modern Freedom by John C. Rao, The Remnant Press, 1999, pp.69-71
