III.  The  "plasticity"  of  her  children  the  Catholic
Church  assumes  to  be  axiomatic.  She  could  else  have
no  mission  here  on  earth.  This  plastic  or  receptive  at-
titude must  have  a  threefold  application:  to  the  truths
proposed  for  belief ;  to  the  sacraments  to  be  received  as
well  as  to  the  liturgic  rites  attending  their  administra-
tion; and  to  the  commandments  to  be  observed.  The
"habit"  of  Christian  living  adapts  one  to  a  higher
standard  than  that  of  the  mere  observance  of  the  deca-
logue ;  it  "accommodates"  the  novice  to  the  demands  of
the  Gospel  counsels.  In  proportion  as  he  is  faithful  in
living  up  to  their  requirements  does  he  find  opening
before  him  ever  widening  vistas  of  greater  spiritual
heights  to  be  climbed.  As  his  plasticity  is  to  end  only
with  his  death,  so  his  religious  development  is  to  be  the
work  of  his  whole  life.
In  the  Religious  Novitiate,  therefore,  in  addition  to
that  "heredity"  which  is  involved  in  the  transmission  of
original  sin  and  is  therefore  connected  with  the  mys-
teries   of    the   Incarnation    and   the   Redemption,   the


Summary,  203

principles  of  environment,  plasticity,  and  adjustment,
have  a  deeper  meaning  and  a  wider  application  than  in
the  domain  of  plant  or  animal  biology.  They  apply  to
higher  planes  of  life  than  is  possible  for  the  mere  or-
ganism or  even  for  mere  man;  for  they  apply  to  a  life
established  and  constituted  by  the  Saviour  of  mankind ;
a  life  into  which  He  initiated  His  disciples,  and  to
whom,  as  is  insinuated  by  their  very  name  of  "dis-
ciples," He  imparted  the  method  of  that  all  important
"learning  process"  which  transforms  the  mere  natural
man  into  the  devoted  follower  of  Christ.
CHAPTER  VII.
PSYCHOLOGICAI.    AsPECTS    OF    FaITH.
