CATHOLIC SERVICES.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 97, 26 April 1930, Page 10

CATHOLIC SERVICES.

A MESSAGE OF HOPE.

REQUIEM MASS IN ST. PATRICK'S

St. Patrick's Cathedral was crowded yesterday morning, when a Solemn High Mass of Requiem was celebrated for the repose of the souls of the soldier dead. The IJight Rev. James M. Liston, Bishop of Auckland, presided, and the celebrant of the Mass was the Rev. L. T. Buxton, D.C.L., Administrator. A choir of priests sang the sombrely beautiful chants of the Mass for th© dead, "0 Salutaris Hostia Sacra" being sung with fine effect as a sol? by the Rev. F. Terry. Bishop Liston said that Anzac Day this year came quickly in the wake of Easter, festival of the Resurrection, so that those who were gathered in the cathedral to pay their tribute to the fallen soldiers and to prav for their eterna" repose had prominently in mind thoughts of the empty tomb at Jerusalem, which gave all Christiana a message of hope. Many listening'to him that morning must have suffered terrible torments during the war years, when r.esr ones were tor*j from them. How much it meant to the bereaved Christian relatives to know that beyond the battlefield and the pain there was the fairer life, unmarred by sin or sorrow. There was the comforting knowledge that the Saviour's love was filling with perfect happiness the heart that the parent was so helpless to console and that the d«y would come when sorrowing relative's would see the risen Jesus open to them the gate of Paradise. Then would come the joyous reconciliation with the son so loved on earth. The triumph of the Resurrection alone made this possible. A Mass of Requiem was celebrated in other Catholic churches throughout the diocese.»