ANZAC DAY

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 187, 27 April 1918, Page 3

ANZAC DAY

SOLEMN REQUIEM MASS AN IMPRESSIVE SERMON M St. Mary's of the Angels Ohurch on Thursday a solemn Requiem Mass was said for the repose of those who fell during the landing at Uallipoli. In tho course of an eloquent and impressive sermon, tho Rev. Father Gilbert, S.M., rector of St. Patrick's Collego, said :— "But my brethren, to-day is not a day for mourning over the past. Anzac Day belongs to history, and tho Anzac hero needs no tears, .blunder as the venture might have neon, tragedy as it was, it is yet a venturo round which are clustered the most sacred memories of our people. Wo are a young nation with a future yet to weave, but into the warp and woof of our history will be woven golden memories of brave deeds done in the years of the nation's youth—for Anzac means' bravery, endurance, pluck, and love greater than which no man hath, for these men laid clown their lives for their friends. In the opening days of the great war, when the whole nation's pulse quickened at the thought of outraged justice, when the whole nation's mind burned red with indignation at the thought of truth and honour torn into shreds, when the whole nation's soul was roused from its lethargy at the thought of force triumphant, no braver men stepped forth than tho young New Zealander, a veritablo giant eager to win his way. No nobler mind burned with a more righteous indignation than the mind of the young Sow Zealander. No loftier soul tnan his made honour its quest. For these men believed in the justice of their cause. They were free men,' with life's bauquot spread before them, and yet they of their own will chose the risks and alarms of war, for they felt convinced they fought for right and justice. In the spirit of the old-time chivalry these Anzac warrior's rose in their freedom, and fought and bled and died in -quest of their own Holy Grail. Let officials and blundering politicians bear the blame of their failure, but the glory of the honour rests with our men.

. . . 'The greatness of their generous hearts,' yes, and pluck, and endurance, and. hope and trust, and love and tibe bearing of one another's bnrdtms, the beatitude of toil and went, to teach us these did the Anzacs bleed and die. And to-day, from the storied land where their bones lie bleaching, their voices are calling; over the sea: 'You will be a nation gTeat and honoured among men when you learn the lesson wo have taught. When you learn that justice is above party interest, when you learn that charitv thinketh no ill, is patient, is kind; when you leiM to live together in peace and amity, even as we died together; when you learn as a nation to believe that above us allkings ai.d prophets, ana peasants—there reigns a God, in Whose keeping is your destiny/ 'But go ye down into the nar- j row by-way of factions, barter your honour and your faith for filthy gain, make selfishness your god, and war profits your patriotism—then we are not of you, tor you have grown craeyn and mercenary and unprincipled, and have forgotten tho_ lessons for which wc died.' Anzac, if it is to moan anything to us as a nation, must bo a trumpet-call to learn tho lessons for which our bravo men have died—that might is not right-that minorities have rights ovon as small nations have; that true patriotism is based on justice and charity. That onr obligations to oursoles, 'to our fellow-men, and to God are more than scraps of paper. If as a nation wo learn these lessons, our brave men shall not have died in vain." At the Mass tho celebrant was His Grace Archbishop O'Shen, the Rev. Father Mahonov, S.M., was deacon, the Rev. Father Hoaro, S.M., sub-deacon and the Rot. Father Hurley, S.M., Master of Ceremonies. There was a very large congregation.