The New Zealand Tablet. Fiat Justitia. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 22, 1898. OUR CHRISTMAS WORD

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXVI, Issue 33, 22 December 1898, Page 17

The New Zealand Tablet. Fiat Justitia. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 22, 1898. OUR CHRISTMAS WORD

fHRISTMAS is again upon us. What is the sentiment that best fits and befits the day and season ? Angels proclaimed it long ago from the midnight sky : Peace and good-will. It was a glorious theme, that first carol that fell from the lips of the heavenly messengers on that first Christmas night long ago. It still rings through the world in the joyous Adeste. Its echo is still heard even in the social customs of lands and homes where the purpose and full spirit of the festival have been forgotten for over three hundred years. Dickens little realised how much of Catholic spirit was stirring within him when he stood forth as the apostle of kindly greetings and good-will, and brought back to the English life of our day more of the genial warmth of the olden ' merrie Chrystemasse ' than it had known for many a day. Oh ! then is the time when the soul exults And seems right heavenward turning, When we love and bless the hands we press,, As the Christmas log is burning. At the close of each year statistics appear in the British and Colonial papers detailing the steady growth of the Christmas registered letter, and the Christmas mail-bao-generally has reached such unwieldy proportions that, despite vhe employment of hundreds of thousands of extra hands at the London General Post Office alone, several thousand there is in every great centre of population a more or less acute congestion of ordinary deliveries. Only two years au-o the Christmas card had its golden jubilee. It has already developed into a mighty tiade that has opened out a new and separate field of art and given employment to a multitude of mechanics, and literary folk. The Christmas post and the Christmas card furnish pleasing evidence that the pendulum of social custom is swinging once more towards a right application of the true significance of this happy festival.

' Peace on earth I' The three little-big wars of the year have passed into the realms of the have-been. The threatened big war between England and France has been happily averted, and there stands a hope that the century whose opening year witnessed the desperate battles of Marengo and ltohenlinden, may end in the calm of a universal peace assured. What the coming century may bring, time alone will show. Long ago, in what are sometimes foolishly termed the ' dark ages,' the Popes adopted, iv mauy an international dispute, the great principle of compulsory arbitration. New' Zealand has revived it in our day in the matter of disputes between employers and employes. The spirit of the (Governments is uneasily stirring along the lines of a revival of the principle which the I'oprs put in force in the turbulent days of the long ago. 'J he coming century may, let us hope, witness its full realisation in international difficulties as well as in those of

lesser degree. Should this happy consummation come, the spirit of the first Christmas night would indeed be upon the world, and, in Longfellow's words, The warrior's name would be a name abhorred. And every nation that should lift again Its hand against a brother, on its forehead Would wear for evermore the curse of Cain. And may our readers see it come to pass !

' Peace on earth ! ' For us, our chief work is one of exposition and defence of Catholic principles and rights. So long as the former are assailed or the latter withheld, so long must our work be militant in its nature. And our place must ever be in the foremost and the thickest of the light. But we struggle that others may have right and peace. The Babe of Bethlehem, the Prince of Peace, came with a ' woe ' for some, a plaited scourge for others, and for others still a drawn sword. But it was that His true children might enjoy His peace. For there is peace and peace — the peace of the coward who is a Bobacres on the field of battle, or of one who is a dumb dog when it behoves him to speak out boldly ; and the deeper peace of one that has the consciousness of duty done and right and truth defended, impugn them whoso will. Be that our peace — a 'peace with honour,' as I'lsraeliI 'Israeli said in his famous speech on his return from Congress in 1878. To the kindness of the New Zealand hierarchy, to the graceful friendship of our fellow-priests, to the good- will of the Catholic laity of the Colony, we owe a debt of deep gratitude for the practical support which has opened to the N.Z. Tablet the bright prospect of long days of usefulness pro Ecclcsia Dd — for the Church of the Living God in this new land. We count on the continued exercise of that kindness and good will. What shall we say ? That we are grateful ? It is to say but little. For here the syllables fail us, and we find no words to give outward expression to our inner sense. What can we do but clasp in spirit the kindly hands of so many kindly friends and of our readers one and all, and with a brimful heart wish them one and all A Happy Christmas, and a soulful and a lifeful of the best blessings that the gentle Saviour of Bethlehem can give !