Now that events have settled the issue between peace and war a new situation arises which demands the attention of the theologian in respect of the readjustment of life in accord with Christian principles. Many new elements have been brought into our lives, and we not unnaturally pause to reflect how, if at all, they can find place in the Christian life as such.

We are not without reasons, and compelling reasons, in support of our cause. Much as we may abhor jingoism, we must learn to distinguish it from authentic patriotism, a Christian virtue authorised by God and the Church. Yet even patriotism, taken in its fullest sense as a Christian virtue and duty, does not make the whole issue crystal clear; it does not diminish the realities of the horror and attendant evils of war, but on the contrary makes those realities more actual and those evils more apparent, urging thought as to the reorganisation of individual life to meet them. Patriotism emphasises the need of accepting readily the restraint and sacrifices inevitably imposed on all. Can this acceptance be a truly Christian thing, and can the new conditions of civil life be integrated into the Christian life?

There is much that will chiefly affect only one’s private life; and this at least can be accepted in a Christlike way, sanctified and made sacramental. Much has been spoken and written of the life of the Christian in the Body of Christ and of his share in the Sacrifice of the Mass, and it has rightly been pointed out how this participation dignifies human nature and how the quality of ‘alter Christus’ places a man, in some sense, higher than the angels, invited to embark, as an Apostle and Coadjutor of Christ, upon the conversion of the world.