Friends at Court

New Zealand Tablet, 9 March 1911, Page 411

Friends at Court

CSLEANPNQS FOR NEXT WEEK'S CALENDAR J March 12, Sunday.—Second Sunday in Lent. „ 13, Monday.—St. Raymund Pennafort, Confessor. ~ 14, Tuesday.—SS. Perpetua and Felicitas, Martyrs. „ 15, Wednesday.—St. Zachary, Pope and Confessor. „ 16, Thursday.—St. Ita, Virgin. „ 17, Friday.—St. Patrick, Bishop and Confessor, Patron of Ireland. ~ 18, Saturday.—St. Gabriel, Archangel. St. Patrick, Bishop, Confessor, and Patron of Ireland. The nationality of St. Patrick is much disputed, some naming France, others Scotland, as the place of his birth. When but sixteen years of age he was carried captive into Ireland, where he remained for six years, thus by a remarkable disposition of Divine Providence becoming acquainted with the language and customs of the people whom he was afterwards to evangelise. Having escaped from captivity,' his one desire was to return to Ireland, bringing with him the blessings of the true faith to its Sagan inhabitants. The desired mission was confided to him by Pope St. Celestine about 432. His labors were crowned with complete success. By his exertions Ireland has ever since not only kept pure and unsullied the faith at home, but has helped to propagate it in nearly every country in the world. St. Patrick died about 464, and was buried in Downpatrick. St. Gabriel, Archangel. The Archangel Gabriel was chosen by God to reveal to the Prophet Daniel the time of the Incarnation, and when that time was nigh, he was sent to announce to the Blessed Virgin that she had been selected to be the Mother of God. "

GRAINS OF GOLD PLEADING OF THE SACRED HEART. ' My child, give, oh give Me thy heart! For I have loved thee with a love No mortal heart can show; . A love so deep, My saints in heaven Its depths can never know! Thy soul to save did I not leave My home beyond the skies? Behold! On straw, a helpless Babe, Thy God Incarnate lies! For three and thirty years did not Thy miseries I bear I bore them all, save sin, that thou My happiness mightst share When on the cross from countless wounds My lifeblood ebbed away, Did I not with undying love, Thy debts, thy ransom pay? And though I died, with thee I live, 'Neath veils I glorious hide; Thy Comrade, Victim, Food of soul, All day do I abide! Since, then, My Heart's constraining love Has made Me all thine own— Give it, my child, thy heart to Me, Give it to Me alone!"

Holiness is human worth, increased by divine grace. Do not let us waste our time in wishing that we ere like others that we had the things God has given them; we cannot have these. Each must use what God has given to himself. Let us be content to live day by day as God leads us, making good use of every moment, without looking beyond it. If you cannot be happy in one way, be happy in another. This facility of disposition wants but little aid from philosophy, for health and good humour are almost the whole affair. Many run about after felicity, like an absent-minded man hunting for his hat while it is in his hand or on his head. Did you ever think that these was in your own life a vast amount of unused power ? You work, as you think and yet there are faculties that lie dormant, because the will has T never seized hold of them and brought them forth. Undoubtedly there are people who never use more than one hemisphere of their brain at once, and others who nave a whole range of faculties undeveloped. As our national glory is set on the foundations of home, so home is . set upon the individuals. We must get hold of the individuals who make up the family a "l let +l the State get hold of the families which make up the unity. Our mission is first to the individual Now, what do we want in the individual? I think there is a plentiful lack of virile character— plentiful lack of it I W“nt men to stiffen their back-not in death, but in me. + j want men n this country to be stirred, inspired m"™ d A debated, by some big Christian principle Where there are principles carry them right up to the Golden Gate,Father Bernard Vaughan, S.J, P 6