Friends at Court

New Zealand Tablet, 12 May 1910, Page 723

Friends at Court

GLEANINGS FOR NEXT WEEK’S CALENDAR

May 15, Sunday. — Sunday. „ 16, Monday. —Pentecost Monday. „ 17, Tuesday. Pentecost Tuesday. ~ 18, Wednesday.Of the Octave. Ember Day. „ 19, Thursday. —Of the Octave. ~ 20, Friday.—Of the Octave. Ember Day. ~ 21, Saturday.Of the Octave. Ember Day.

Pentecost Sunday.

On this day, in accordance with the promise of Christ, the Holy Ghost, the Third Person of the Adorable Trinity, descended on the Apostles. ‘ This day,’ Butler remarks, ‘is the birthday of the Church. Christ had indeed begun to form His Church during His ministry on earth, when He assembled His disciples, selected His Apostles, and placed St. Peter at their head. But by the descent of the Holy Ghost He completed His revelation, and gave to His Apostles a special and extraordinary assistance, by which they were directed and preserved from all error in teaching. He thus, as it were, infused a soul into His mystical body—the Church— endowed it with a vigorous principle of life and action. From this time its rulers, ministers, and officers, being completely commissioned and qualified by the miraculous effusion of the Holy Ghost, set themselves to exercise their respective functions in governing and propagating the spiritual kingdom of Christ, which was then perfectly settled and established.

GRAINS OF GOLD

ALTAR GIFTS.

‘ Hearts of silver and hearts of gold Men had brought in days of old To Thy shrine for offering,’ Lord my King!

Gold and jewels, incense rare, Roses with their heart’s blood fair, Saints and martyrs had Thee given, Christ my Heaven.

Rose nor incense, blood nor gem, Have I for Thy diadem; Worthy of Thy smallest thought Have I naught.

Poor and common are my flowers, Worthless all my days and hours, Yet beneath Thine altar’s shade

Bo they laid.

—Avc Maria.

He who wishes to be happier than others must first consider others.

Good companionship does not depend upon accident, but upon selection. Success is utter failure if achieved by the sacrifice of moral principles. Let your means overrun your wants, not your wants overrun your means.

The right key to a happy life is patience with little annoyance, whether they pertain to self or others. It has been well said that happiness depends much upon ‘ cultivating our growth of small pleasures.’ The face that laughs in a mirror sees another that laughs back. Cultivate a happy disposition and let others see it. The bright, cheery face will be reflected in many another face, Down with the black flag of ill-temper that selfishly gives no quarter, and up with a banner of good cheer, that, being helpful to the world at large, is itself helped. Don’t whine! Take what comes to you and do your best with it. Make the bravest fight you can; strain yourself to see the cheerful side of things, even the funny side of the mishaps you cannot help. Strangle complaints with a laugh—a cheery laugh is good for heart and brain, and clears the mists from the eyes of faith. Endure what must needs be endured, go forward bravely. A day is not a day well spent unless you have tried to send a ray of sunshine into some clouded life. What will you do to-day? You may be busy here and there with your household cares or the vexatious details of your business, but you should take time to make some one happy. Taking up one’s cross’ means simply that you are to go the road you see to be the straight one; carrying whatever you find is given you to carry, as well and stoutly as you can; without complaining or calling people to come and look at you. Who watching our lives and following us as we go about our daily avocations would dream that we are laying the foundation for an eternal mansion? Who, viewing our conduct, would ever imagine that we are conscious our actions and thoughts are all stamping with an indelible mark our life beyond the grave ?