Friends at Court

New Zealand Tablet, 28 April 1910, Page 643

Friends at Court

GLEANINGS FOR NEXT WEEK’S CALENDAR

May 1, Sunday. Fifth Sunday after Easter. SS. Philip - • ' and James, Apostles. ~ 2, Monday.—St. Athanasius, Bishop, Confessor, and Doctor. Rogation Day. „ 3, Tuesday.—Finding of the Holy Cross. Rogation Day. ~ 4, Wednesday.St. Monica, Widow. Rogation Day. ~ 5, Thursday. Ascension of Our Lord. Holiday of ' Obligation. ~ 6, Friday.—St. John at the Latin Gate. ~ -7, Saturday. —St. Benedict 11., Pope and Confessor.

/ The Finding of the Holy Cross. - This festival has been celebrated in the Latin Church since the fifth or sixth century. It commemorates the discovery by St. Helena, mother of the Emperor Constantine, A.D. 326, of the Cross on which Our Blessed Saviour suffered. In the words of St. Jerome : ‘lf the ark was held in such high veneration by the Jews, how much more ought Christians respect the wood of the Cross whereon Our Saviour offered Himself a bleeding victim for our sins ? Christ selected the Cross to be the glorious instrument of His victory, and the Cross is the standard under which all His followers must fight His battles.’ The Ascension of Our Lord. Holiday of Obligation. • Christ risen from the dead remained forty days on earth, instructing His Apostles, and proving beyond all doubt the truth of His Resurrection. At the end of that time He ascended into Heaven from Mount Olivet, in full view of His Apostles. Thus He secured for His sacred humanity the happiness and glory which He had merited by His sufferings, and at the same time opened to us the gates of Heaven. From the time of the Apostles this event has been commemorated in the Church by a special feast.

GRAINS OF GOLD

FAITH AND LOVE.

God, Who registers the , cup Of mere cold water for His sake To a disciple rendered up, Disdains not His own thirst to slake At the poorest love ever offered, And because my heart I proffered, With true love trembling at the brim, He suffers me to follow Him Forever, my own w r ay—dispensed From seeking to be influenced By all the less immediate ways That earth, in worships manifold, Adopts to reach by prayer and praise The garment’s hem, wdiich, 10, I hold! Robert Browning.

We tarnish the splendor of our best actions by often speaking of them. - A fault which humbles a man is of more use to him than a good action which puffs him up ; with pride. Let us have the faith that right makes might, and in that faith let us dare to do our duty as we understand it. Strength lies in character. Deceit is weakness; sham and pretence are enfeebling. Only the genuine and the sincere are worth while. The man who prefers to live a quiet life, doing his daily duty faithfully, is more truly successful and happy than he who aspires to reach the heights of fame and riches, but fails to see that a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth. Let each one accept his task —a task which should fill his life. It may be very humble; it will not be the less useful. Never mind what it is so long as it exists and keeps you erect. When you have regulated it without excess, just the quantity you are able to accomplish each day, it will cause you to live in health and in joy. Good nature is one of the best assets a woman can have. A good-natured woman is always welcome even when she is rather slow-witted, and a woman of the opposite class is to he dreaded and shunned, because whatever brightness she possesses is of the personal kind. Many a woman, brilliant and entertaining, is feared quite as much as she is admired, because even her closest friends are not safe from her wit and satire. Many a social engagement is broken on account of such women. Good nature, like other desirable attributes, can be cultivated. One can be educated to accept little annoyances with complacency. The victory over one disagreeable thing gives strength to meet the next two, and when the philosophy that teaches one to remedy ills when a remedy is possible and accept the incurable ones with fortitude and good nature, is learned, life is comparatively smooth.