cessor, to whom Christ gave authority to decide when He said: "I have prayed for you that your faith fail not, and you being confirmed in the faith, confirm the brethren." Nor must we reject a single truth from the faith of Christ — the foundation must be as broad as truth itself, else the superstructure erected thereon will be too small for the indwelling of the Lord. Our faith must be as lively as was Mary's, which merited from St. Elizabeth that high encomium: " Blessed art thou that hast believed, because these things shall be accomplished in thee that were spoken to thee by the Lord," because, being but a simple village maiden she readily answered to the angel's salutation of Mother of God: "Be it done unto me according to thy word." Our faith must be as self-sacrificing as was hers when, like another Abraham, she stood by and saw her only Son immolated to the will of His Father. Finally, our faith must be as firm as hers when she refused to accompany the other women to her Son's tomb, knowing well that the Lord was not there, but was already risen.
Faith, therefore, is the foundation. And as the walls rise from the foundation, so from faith rises hope, ever higher and higher, ever nearer and nearer, to God. Here I speak of a hope as strong and firm as was Mary's — a hope of which Isaias says: "They who hope in the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall take wings as eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint " — a hope that sustains us as it sustained Mary through all the
