CHURCH OF THE SACRED HEART

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXVII, Issue 19783, 26 April 1934, Page 10

CHURCH OF THE SACRED HEART

SOLEMN REQUIEM MASS. At the Church of the Sacred Heart, Anzac Day was commemorated by the celebration of Solemn Requiem Mass yesterday morning, before a large congregation, the Rev. Father M. Murphy S.M., being the celebrant. Beside the ordinary music of the Mass, appropriate hymns were sung by the choir. Father Murphy quoted the following text: “It is therefore a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead that they may be loosed from sins” (2 Machabees XII., 43-46). These words, said Father Murphy, came down to them from the inspired writer of the Second Book of Machabees. They were added as a commentary by him after he had related the action of Judas Machabeus, who had gathered 12,000 drachmas of silver to send to Jerusalem for sacrifice to be offered for the sins of his gallant soldiers who had fallen in battle fighting for their fatherland, for he had hoped that those who were slain would rise again. This, too, said Father Murphy, had ever been the compelling motive urging Holy Church throughout the ages to offer the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass for the dead that die in the Lord that their resurrection might be a speedy and glorious one. As Judas Machabeus scanned the battlefield of old, so, too, on Anzac Day they were a-ked to transport themselves in spirit to the awful years of carnage that made Europe a veritable shambles, and that made civilised people arm to the teeth and fly at one another like infuriated demons. It was not for them to discuss the reasons that brought about that terrible conflict. It was not for them to examine the motives that urged their young men in the flowei of their youth to leave these peaceful shores and to throw themselves into that mad warfare. But it was for them to ponder deeply, now that the din and smoke of battle had passed away and now that a forest of white crosses with their extended arms confronted them on every field of battle reminding them of their myriads of dead.

Rightful pride and deep sorrow no doubt were their mingled feelings >n Anzac Day. said the speaker, when they recalled the gallant deeds of kith and kin in storming the heights ;.-f Gallipoli and in the various theatres of war—pride in the lapis won oy their soldiers, but sorrow in the price

it cost. The bravery of those soldiers, acknowledged by ally and foe alike, had given New Zealand a place among the nations of the world, with deeds unsurpassed by any graven on the scroll of time. “But at what a price!” continued Father Murphy. “It was paid for by the life’s blood of thousands of our young men in the full bloom of life. It was paid for by throwing into deep mourning every home in the land. It was paid for by our men subjecting themselves to a living hell in the war zone, scenes that make us shudder to recall as they force themselves upon us each Anzac Day. It is for us then to-day, people and priests alike, to unite with Jesus in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, earnestly beseeching our Heavenly Father that this earth of ours shall never be so visited again, that Christ may come and reign in the hearts r f all so that the peace He come on earth to give to men of goodwill might be ours.” It was for them that day to pray for the success of the League of Nations, continued the speaker, that animated with true Christian ideals the League might create a universal brotherhood, under the fatherhood of God, to make wars impossible by knitting together nations in bonds of love stronger than death.

“It is for us to-day,” concluded Father Murphy,” and chiefly for this reason are we gathered together in this House of God, to pray in our old Catholic way for the peace of the souls of the faithful departed, foe and ally alike, that fell in the world war, that eternal rest might be granted unto them and that perpetual light might snine upon their souls, for ‘it is therefore a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead that they may be loosed from sins’.” Father Murphy concluded by reading the prayers for the dead. During and at the conclusion of the Mass, “Last Post” and “Reveille” were sounded by Bandsman Reeves. The organist (Mrs N. D. Mangos) played “The Dead March in Saul.”