ch, who have left everything to alleviate every ill
that flesh is heir to, and follow the meek and humble Jesus in His
mission of love.

The Catholic Church alone teaches, as Jesus taught while on earth, the
duty of penance. "If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself,
take up his cross and follow Me." According to Christ's teaching, the
Church sets aside the penitential season of Lent and other times of
mortification.

The Church also teaches that we must not only be faithful in the
observance of the practices of religion, but that we must also live in
peace and justice and charity with all mankind, and die with a hope
beyond the grave. If we love God we will faithfully observe the
practices of the Church; these practices will assist us in keeping the
commandments, by which we will enter into life.

We have seen that the various ceremonies and practices of the Catholic
Church are dictated by right reason; that they are the rational
deduction from Christ's teaching; that they obtain for us divine grace,
excite pious thoughts, and elevate our minds to God; and that a true
Christian is one who not only believes but also practises the teachings
of Christ and His Church. The observance of these pious practices of the
Church makes us Christians in fact as well as in name. They assist us to
keep the commandment and to live in accordance with our faith. By
faithfully observing them, we show that we are not ashamed to be
Christ's followers. And if we follow Him, who is the way, the truth, and
the life, we will not walk in darkness; but will enter by the narrow way
into the presence of truth itself, _in the regions of eternal light_.

PRINTED BY BENZINGER BROTHERS, NEW YORK

End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Mary, Help of Christians, by Various

*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MARY, HELP OF CHRISTIANS ***

***** This file should be named 33596.txt or 33596.zip *****
This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
http://www.gutenberg.org/3/3/5/9/33596/

Produced by Michael Gray, the Diocese of San Jose

Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
will be renamed.

Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules,
set fo