Friends at Court

New Zealand Tablet, 25 May 1911, Page 939

Friends at Court

- ——» " - GLEANINGS FOR NEXT WEEK'S CALENDAR Maj 28, Sunday—Sunday within the Octave of the Ascension. St. Urban 1., Pope and Martyr. „ 29, Monday.— Boniface IV., Pope and Confessor. „ 30, Tuesday.—St. Felix 1., Pope and Martyr. „ 31, Wednesday.— of the Feast of Blessed Virgin Mary, Help of Christians. June 1, Thursday.—Octave of the Ascension. „ 2, Friday.—St. Eugene 1., Pope and Confessor. „ 3, Saturday.—Vigil of Pentecost. Day of Fast and Abstinence. St. Felix 1., Pope and Martyr. St. Felix, a native of Rome, after having occupied the Papal throne for five years, received the crown of martyrdom under the Emperor Aurelian in 274. Octave of the Feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Help if Christians. Seeing that God selected the Blessed Virgin Mary to be the Mother of His Divine Son, thus conferring on her the greatest dignity of which a creature is capable, Catholics feel that to honor her beyond all creatures is a necessary consequence of the reverence which they owe to the Son of God. For this reason the Church has set apart many days during the year for the commemoration of her virtues and prerogatives, and has designated the entire month of May as a time of special devotion to her. Vigil of the Feast of Pentecost. After the Ascension of Our Lord, the Apostles remained in Jerusalem, preparing themselves by prayer and recollection for the coming of the Holy Ghost. By commemorating this fact, the Church invites us to dispose ourselves for the worthy celebration of the great feast of Pentecost. The eve of Pentecost _ was, in the primitive Church, one of the two principal days appointed for the solemn administration of Baptism, and the baptismal font is still blessed on this day, with ceremonies similar to those made use of on Holy Saturday. GRAINS OF QOLD~* '"** ~"~ 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 t 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 Be they laid. —Thamonda, in Ave Maria. Thousands that are capable of great sacrifices are yet not capable of the little ones which are all that are required of them. There is a certain softness of manner which should be cultivated, and which, in either man or woman, adds a charm that almost entirely compensates for lack of beauty. Life has its disappointments, its dreary days, its black hours and darkening clouds for all of us ; yet the cares, the difficulties, the burdens of our life are the raw materials God puts into our hands, out of which we are to weave life's shining raiment and crown of glory. Life is the pitch of the orchestra and we are the instruments. The discord and the broken string of the individual instrument do not affect the whole, except as false notes; but I think that God, knowing all things, must discern the symphony, glorious with meaning, through the discordant fragments that we play. Be noble towards an enemy. The man who does you wrong has need of pity. _ To be injured is less of a misfortune than to be the injurer. He who defrauds makes holes in his own pockets by which he loses more than he steals. He who slanders, wields a sword which he holds at the point; his own hands receive the wounds. Be ready to adopt new ideas. We progress only through change. It is just as unreasonable to stick to old ways merely because your are used to them as it would be to walk up ten flights of stairs when you might be carried up in the lift.