PEARLS FROM HOLY SCRIPTURE FOR OUR LITTLE ONES

New Zealand Tablet, 3 December 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 and Wills.'

! Unless you he converted and become as Utile children, you shall not, enter into the Kinydom of Heaven .’—- . St. Matt, xviii. 2.

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VI.—A FRIEND.

‘ A faithful friend is a strong defence, and he that hath found him hath found a treasure.’

Ecclesiasticus, 6. 14.

. You, my dearest, like everyone else, would like to have a friend, a true and faithful friend. When a person is rich, he has many who call themselves his friends, but if he meets with bad fortune and becomes poor, those people will not know him and so prove that they are not true friends. A real friend will be your friend always, as well when you are poor as when you are rich, when you are ill, as when you are in good health, when you are spoken badly of as when you are praised. The Bible paints for us a charming picture of the friendship between Jonathan, son of King Saul, and young David, who was afterwards ruler of Juda and Israel. ‘ The soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and he loved him as his own soul.’ . . . And David and Jonathan made a covenant of friendship. And Jonathan stripped himself of the coat he was wearing and gave it to David, and other garments also, even to his sword and his bow and his girdle. And when Jonathan was slain in battle by the Philistines, David mourned and wept and fasted, and made this lamentation over him': ‘ How are the valiant fallen in battle? Jonathan slain in the high places? I grieve for thee, my brother Jonathan, exceeding beautiful and amiable to me above the love of woman. As the mother loveth her onl}sson, so did I love thee.’ (11. Kings, i. 25-27.) To find a true friend is not easy; but I am glad to be able to tell you that you, dear children, have just one friend who is the best friend in the \vhole world, and that friend is our Divine Saviour, Jesus Christ; Him you must look upon all through your life as the most faithful, the most powerful, and the most loving of friends. For, as that admirable book, The Imitation of Christ, says: ‘ Without a friend thou canst not well live, and if Jesus be not above all others thy friend, thou wilt be Hid and desolate indeed.’ Jesus is ever at your side to help you, not only when you rejoice in the sunshine of good fortune, but also when a very storm of woe bursts upon you and you are filled with gloom and melancholy. In the dark hour of trial He will comfort and strengthen your sad heart, and because He is Almighty, He will, if you love Him, make all things, even the most hurtful, work together for your good, for your advantage; because of Him, beyond all others, it is , true to say that ‘ A faithful friend is a strong defence, and he that hath found him hath found a treasure.’ Such a treasure, indeed, is Jesus, a treasure richer than all the gold and silver in the world. And you must bear in mind that you have need" of His friendship and help all your days in this world, but especially when the hour of your death approaches. You do not know when or where you shall —on sea or on land, in your bed, with the comfort of the last solemn rites of your Mother, the Church, or in some desolate spot where you can receive no sacrament or holy rite, where no one will be by your side to whisper words of faith and love or assist you by fervent supplication and prayer. But no matter in what circumstances you draw near to the gates of death, your true and powerful friend, Jesus, will come to you, will give you perfect resignation to the Divine Will, will pour into your heart courage, confidence, and strength, and when all other friends are quite powerless to grant

you relief, will, so to speak, rest your head upon His Sacred Heart and bear you in His Everlasting Arms to .the splendid reward He has prepared for you iii heaven. If you have read the Life of St. Francis Xavier, you will remember that he died on a little island off the coast of China, where he had no priest to assist him; but because Jesus was ever the object of his love and ’trust, that true Friend cam© to him in his last hour and so comforted him that, as he expired, he broke into a cry of joy and said: In Thee, O Lord, have I hoped, let me never be confounded.’ So will it be . with you, too, if you are careful to take our Divine Lord as your best friend, and prove that you are resolved to trust and love Him all your life long. Prayer to be Said Often. O Jesus, my Saviour, my Friend, Thou art indeed mine O make me all Thine, And faithful to Thee to the end. M. J. W. When I sink down in gloom and fear, Hope blighted or delayed, Thy whisper. Lord, my heart shall cheer, ‘’Tis I; be not- afraid!’ —Cardinal Newman.