William F Robison Sj

Christ's Masterpiece: a Study of the One True Church William F Robison Sj

After discussing the Magna Carta and how seven centuries of law flow from it, Father Robison goes into another great charter: ?But there is another Great Charter, which is far more valuable than even the great charter of our civic liberties. This is the Great Charter of the Kingdom of Christ. This charter was not wrested from an unwilling monarch: it was granted out of the depths of undying and unfathomable love by the King of whose Kingdom there shall be no end. On the mountain of Galilee this charter was given by the Master to His chosen ones, and contains the constitution of His Kingdom upon earth, His blessed Church, which was to bring men from the darkness to the light, from misery to happiness, from slavery to the true freedom of the children of God.? He then proceeds masterfully to explain this great charter. ?It is, then, of supreme importance to all to know where this one, true, obligatory Church of Christ the King is: for those who are its members, that they may ever more loyally appreciate the blessed privilege that is theirs; for those who do not yet belong to its saving communion, that they may come unto the Christ in His Church, until there shall be but one fold and one shepherd.? Father Robison then lays out in clear detail where the Church of Christ the King is and how we must be members of this holy Church. He masterfully defends the primacy of the Pope as the Successor of Saint Peter. Commenting on Jesus Christ's command to Peter to feed My sheep, he says: ?From ancient usage, profane as well as sacred, the office of shepherding a people meant the kingly office of supreme rule.? He defends the perpetuity of the Papacy until the end of time: ?And besides, this primacy of Peter was to continue unto the end of time, "all days even to the consummation of the world." This perpetuity of the primacy is of an importance that cannot be exaggerated. ? His Church was to last until the end of time, unchanged in all that He made essential to it; and the most essential of these essentials was the place of supreme jurisdiction given to Peter.? Let us close with this consideration: ?The question is of the highest moment to all. There is but one Church of Christ, to which all men are bound to come; but one Church living forever and holding the means of God's ordinary providence for the salvation of the world. Wherever it is, Peter is at its head; for the Christ placed him there to rule it all days even to the consummation of the world. In view of this we can grasp the worth of our considerations with regard to Peter's divinely established position in the Church of God.?