Graces of the Chair of St. Peter
- MSGR. ROBERT HUGH BENSON
She is as young and as much an obstacle to all worldly politicians, as much an offense to all who seek another ideal than hers, as she was when Nero ruled or Elizabeth tyrannized.
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But is it possible to meet the phenomenon of the Church's age long Resurrection by any explanation that will not break down — to account, on secular or social principles, for the fact that while she has met reverses which no other religion or empire or society has ever been called upon to meet, yet she is more vital than them all? That she is as young and as active as she was a thousand years ago, as much an obstacle to all worldly politicians, as much an offense to all who seek another ideal than hers, as much a scandal and a stumbling-block to her critics, as she was when Nero ruled or Elizabeth tyrannized or Arius or Voltaire sneered.
For I see through her eyes, the Eyes of God to shine, and through her lips I hear his words. In each of her hands as she raises them to bless, I see the wounds that dripped on Calvary, and her feet upon her altar stairs are signed with the same marks as those which the Magdalene kissed. As she comforts me in the confessional I hear the voice that bade the sinner go and sin no more; and as she rebukes or pierces me with blame I shrink aside trembling with those who went out one by one, beginning with the eldest, till Jesus and the penitent were left alone. As she cries her invitation through the world I hear the same ringing claim as that which called, "Come unto me and find rest to your souls."
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Acknowledgement
Msgr. Robert Hugh Benson. "Graces of the Chair of St. Peter." from Christ in the Church series I, number 4 (Continuum International Publishing Group, 1941).
Reproduced by permission of Continuum International Publishing Group, A Bloomsbury Company.
This excerpt appeared in Magnificat in February 2013.
The Author
Msgr. Robert Hugh Benson (1871-1914) son of the Archbishop of Canterbury, became a Roman Catholic priest, a novelist, and a prominent writer of apologetics. Hugh Benson was lauded in his own day as one of the leading figures in English literature. His works include theological writings, such as Paradoxes of Catholicism, An Average Man, By What Authority?, Christ in the Church, The Religion of the Plain Man, and The Friendship of Christ, as well as novels, among the most famous of which are Lord of the World and Come Rack! Come Rope!