PEARLS FROM HOLY SCRIPTURE FOR OUR LITTLE ONES

New Zealand Tablet, 26 November 1914, Page 61

PEARLS FROM HOLY SCRIPTURE FOR OUR LITTLE ONES

By the. Rev. M. J. Watson, S.J. (Author of ‘ Within the Soul,’ and ‘ The Story of Burke V and Wills.’)

2 . [All Rights Reserved.] THE PURE SOUL. ‘ O how beautiful is the chaste generation.’ Wisdom, 4. 1. ■;> You know, I am sure, the white flower called the Madonna lily. How sweet it is, as in the morning light it lifts its cup gemmed with dewdrops that flash in the breeze and the sunshine! That lily sending forth its fragrance like incense wafted to heaven is an image of the pure soul that loves God and offers to Him each day its tribute of holy love and prayers. The soul is pure when it avoids all sin and preserves itself uninjured by passion and everything that could hinder it from doing the Divine will. As the carrier pigeon rises into the air and flies swiftly" on its way, so the pure soul shakes itself free from the stains of earth, mounts up towards heaven, and seeks by holy desires to abide ever in the bosom of God. Of such a soul the Lord saith: ‘ Behold I will bring upon her as it were a river of peace,’ and to those who are innocent and pure He says : ‘As one whom the mother caresseth, so will I comfort you ’ (Is. 66, 13).

When our Blessed Saviour was preaching His Sermon on the Mount, He uttered the Eight Beatitudes, one of which runs thus : ‘ Blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God ’ (St. Matt. 4). 'The pure shall see God in His glorious kingdom after death, and even in this life they are able by faith and love to see God within their 'own spirit and in the world around them ; and they rejoice in His presence and in the rich gifts which He bestows. Moreover, the Bible tells us that pure souls shall be favored by being very near our Lord Jesus in Heaven : they shall follow Him whithersoever He goes, and shall sing a new song which none of the blessed can sing but those who have imitated the purity of the Lamb of God.

To all who love and preserve purity of heart our Lord will be as the sun, which gives light, warmth, and life to the earth, because He will enlighten them by special graces, comfort them with the warmth of His love, and enrich them with the gift of a stainless, angelic life. If, then, my dearest, you wish to give joy to your Heavenly Father, to your sweet Saviour Jesus, to our Lady, the Mother of God, and to the blessed angels and saints who will be your friends and companions in Heaven, work and pray with the help of Divine grace to keep your soul pure and innocent, that so you may be, day by day, happy and blameless in God’s presence. There was a little girl who lived in the city of. Rome at the beginning of the fourth - century. She grew up fair and pure like a lily in the courts, of the Lord. Her name was Agnes. When she was thirteen years of age, her hand was sought in marriage by many young noblemen, for she was both rich and beautiful ; but she declared that she had taken a. vmu rff virginity and her only Spouse was our Lord Jesus Christ, She was accused of being a Christian to the pagan governor of Rome, and he tried by many promises and threats to induce her to offer sacrifice to the false gods. She refused, and full of courage, she despised all the torments that she might be made to suffer. At last, she was condemned to death, and she rejoiced on hearing the sentence, for she hoped to be soon united for ever to the one object of her love, her dear Jesus. On reaching the place of execution she knelt down, and drawing her golden hair over her head, she presented her neck to the headsman’s sword. The executioner was greatly moved ,at having, to put to death a child so young and fair. The judge reproved him. Then the man raised his sword, and at one stroke cut off the girl’s head. The •martyr’s blessed soul, borne by rejoicing angels to

heaven, was rewarded by our Divine Lord, Jesus Christ, with endless happiness and a crown of glory which shall never fade. . .... v Prayer to be Said Often. Help me, O Lord, to serve Thee with a stainless mind, •, a pure heart and a chaste body. Through Jesus Christ. Amen. Angels Guard the. Pure of Heart. So dear to heaven is saintly chastity, That when a soul is found sincerely so, A thousand liveried f angels lacquey § her. Driving far off each thing of sin and guilt. —Milton. (■ ‘ Liveried,’ in splendid dress. § ‘Lacquey,’ wait upon..