IRISH GUARDS AT WESTMINSTER CATHEDRAL

New Zealand Tablet, 1 October 1914, Page 36

IRISH GUARDS AT WESTMINSTER CATHEDRAL

CARDINAL BOURNE’S TOUCHING; ADDRESS.

- - At 8.30 on Sunday morning (says the 'Liverpool C ait holt c Times of August 16) upwards of 1000 members of the Irish Guards, destined for active service, attended Mass ax, Westminster Cathedral. The parade was under the direction of Lieut. -Col. Morris. The celebrant of the Mass was Father Ritter. The splendid bearing of the men was the subject of general remark. 1 he famous Guards were addressed by Cardinal Bourne, whose solemn and eloquent words deeply impressed the departing soldiers, to whom’ also their recollection will bring strength and comfort on many a battlefield. ( Cardinal Bourne based his address on the text: Wa'.ch, therefore, for you know not the day nor the hour.’ His Eminence said: ‘lf, my dear children in Jesus Christ,-our Divine Master Himself were to come in bodily form in your midst to-day and speak to you with His own Divine lips I know not what other words hie would use to address you than those I have already quoted from His own Divine sayings. ' These words are set for the instruction of every one of us, and there is no one amongst us who can tell from day to day when he will be called out of this lire to give an account to the God Who made him of how he. has spent the days, months, and years on this earth. But to. you, surely, these words will come to-dav

‘ With Tremendous Force.

Many of you cannot tell in how few days, in how few hours you may bo called upon -to give up your lives to’ God in defence of your King and country. Our Divine Lord has told us in another place how there will be two working in a field and that one will be taken and the other left. There is no one amongst you .who can foretell what his lot will be or how soon he may be called out. of this lile to render to God an account of the lile that has been entrusted to him. Think of what has happened in these few’ last sad days, how many brave men have already been called, into ihe presence of God. It seems to me that there are two thoughts which, above all, ’ will: give you heart and courage and earnestness in the stern, work which is placed in your hands. The first thought, surely, is the justice of the cause in which you are called upon to fight. Many a time, as we look back over the history of the world, there may have been moments when brave men entered into the combat exposing themselves .to the loss of their lives, and all the .while there may have been the consciousness that perhaps, after all, the cause in which they were fighting was not a just one. For you there can be no doubt. •

1 his Conflict Has Been Forced Upon Our Country -upon a country longing for peace and unwilling to fight, except in extreme' necessitythis has been forced upon us in defence of our country, in defence of our honor, and in defence of our international obligations. So you may go forward with that full sense°of the justice of the cause- in which-you are fighting. The second thought I put before you,’ said -the Cardinal in conclusion, is; a. thought which gives courage to the brave man— the .thought that he is .without reproach in the sight of Almighty God;., the full consciousness that you arc able to go forth, if necessary, to give up your lives and pass into the presence of' God without even the stain of. sin on your, souls. ’That,’, said the -Cardinal, with great impressiveness, ‘ is in your own hands. I . beg- of you most earnestly to use. the few hours'that still remain to you before you leave this land to place yourselves under the protection of Almighty God. It is your most pressing duty to use the present moments to prepare yourselves, one and all; to . watch and pray and to be ready, because no one amongst you knows the hour when lie-may be called out of this life/ ‘ ' ■?■ flh -P - wwN :r -

His Eminence subsequently , blessed ’the. soldiers; who afterwards marched back to Wellington Barracks. En route, they received a rousing- ovation. : ■ '