Friends at Court

New Zealand Tablet, 30 April 1914, Page 3

Friends at Court

GLEANINGS FOR NEXT WEEK’S CALENDAR May 3, Sunday. —Third Sunday after Easter. Solemnity of St. Joseph. ~ 4, Monday.—Finding of the Holy Cross. ~- 5, Tuesday.—St. Pius V., Pope and Confessor. ~ 6, Wednesday.— St. John at the Latin Gate. ~ 7, Thursday.— St. Benedict 11., Pope and Confessor. ~ 'B, Friday. Apparition of St. Michael, Archangel. ~ 9, Saturday.—St. Gregory Nazianzen, Bishop, Confessor, and Doctor. St. John at the Latin Gate. In this feast the Church commemorates the miraculous deliverance of St. John the Evangelist, when, having been cast, by order of the Emperor Domitian, into a cauldron of boiling oil, he emerged uninjured. This miracle happened in Rome in the year 95, near the gate of the city through which passed the road to Latium, St. Benedict 11., Pope and Confessor. St. Benedict, a Roman by birth, was elected Pope on the death of Leo 11., in 683. ‘He did not,’ says Alban Butler, ‘ complete eleven months in the pontificate, but filled this short term with good works.’ Apparition of St. Michael, Archangel. The feast which we keep to-day was instituted by the Church to commemorate a famous apparition of St. Michael on Mount Gargano, in the kingdom of Naples. This was the origin of a noted pilgrimage, and gave occasion to the erection of a magnificent church in honor. of the great Archangel. St. Gregory Nazianzen, Bishop, Confessor, and Doctor. St. Gregory derives his surname from his birthplace, Nazianzum, in Asia Minor. He belonged to a very pious .family, his father, mother, brother, and sister being numbered by the Church among the saints. Through humility, St. Gregory for a long time refused to take upon himself the responsibility of the priestly office. Elected Bishop of Constant which for many years had been dominated by the Arian heretics, he deemed it his duty to accept the position, and thenceforward labored with zeal and success for the conversion of those whom heresy had led astray. He did not hesitate for a moment, however, to resign the episcopal dignity when altered circumstances seemed to render that course advisable. His eloquence and learning, joined to the sanctity of his life, have earned for him the title of Doctor of the Universal Church. GRAINS OF GOLD. KNOWS ALL. Thou knowest, Lord ! Thou know’st my life’s deep story And all the mingled good and ill I do. Thou see’st my shame, my few stray gleams of glory, Where l am false and where my soul rings true. Like warp and woof, the good and ill are blended, Nor do I see the pattern that I weave ;' Yet in Thy love the whole is comprehended, And in Thy hand my future lot I leave. i Only, dear Lord, make plain the path of duty; Let not my shame and sorrow weigh me down, Lest in despair I fail to see its beauty, And, weeping vainly, miss the victor’s crown. Be faithful in every jot and tittle. The smallest infidelity is like a stitch drbpped in knitting ; it spoils the whole work.