Article image
Article image

Men of evil life are murderers of souls. By direct' intention, or by the infection of example, they destroy theinnocent and turn back the penitent. —Cardinal Manning. There is scarcely, an evil in life which we cannot double by pondering upon it; a scratch will thus become a seriouswound, and a slight illness be made to end in death by the brooding apprehension of th-e sick. On the other hand, a mind accustomed to look upen the bright side of all things will repel the mildew and dampness of care by its genial sunshine. A cheerful heart paints the world as it sees it, like a sunny landscape; the morbid mind depicts it like a sterile wilderness; and thus life, like the chameleon, takes its shade from the soil upon which it rests. Cheerfulness •keeps up a daylight in the mind, filling it with a perpetual serenity, and is in itself am offshoot of goodness. The present is only a passing phase of your existence. Youth soon fades and strength decays; and as shock after shock in your struggle through life demolishes one after another the air-castles whicli you so long and so.laboriously constructed, you will more and more feel the necessity of ceasing to lean upon broken reeds 'and of looking- within your soul's interior for an abiding comfort. And if you find there but emptiness, even as you have found hollowness and deceit without, you will grow hardened and-cynical. But if, on the other hand, you have learned to commune with yourself and to make your soul's interior the guestchamber in which to entertain the Divine Word —the Em- - manuel dwelling within you—in Him you will find renewed strength to fight your battles with the world, to help you in trouble, to soothe you in pain, and to console you in sorrow and affliction. And so, in cultivating the Spiritual Sense yoii arc-also educating yourself up to the larger views of life, and learning the great lesson of patience and

This article text was automatically generated and may include errors. View the full page to see article in its original form.
Permanent link to this item

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZT19090218.2.4.3

Bibliographic details

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXVII, Issue 7, 18 February 1909, Page 243

Word Count
332

Untitled New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXVII, Issue 7, 18 February 1909, Page 243

Untitled New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXVII, Issue 7, 18 February 1909, Page 243