Friends at Court

New Zealand Tablet, 21 January 1915, Page 3

Friends at Court

GLEANINGS FOR NEXT WEEK’S CALENDAR

January 24, Sunday. —Third Sunday after the Epiphany. ~ 25, Monday. The Conversion of St. Paul. ~ 26, Tuesday. —St. Polycarp, Bishop and Martyr. ~ 27, Wednesday. — St. John Chrysostom, Bishop, Confessor, and Doctor. „ 28, Thursday. —St. Agnes, Virgin and Martyr. ~ 29, Friday.— St. Francis de Sales, Bishop, Confessor, and Doctor. ~ 30, Saturday.— Office of the Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany.

Third Sunday After the Epiphany. The leper, in this day’s Gospel, falling on his face at the feet of Christ, besought Him, saying: ‘Lord, if Thou wilt, Thou canst make me clean.’ Though the form of his request shows that he knew he was asking for something undeserved, yet, conscious of his miserable condition and of the power and compassion of our Blessed Saviour, he remained prostrate until his petition was granted. Our prayers must be humble, because we do not deserve to be heard, but earnest, on account of our helplessness, and confident and persevering, for God can, and will, assist us.

The Conversion of St. Paul.

* St. Paul was at first a violent persecutor of the Church. In fact, at the very moment when the grace of God touched his heart he was on his way to Damascus, with authority to seize any persons whom he might find professing the new faith, and send them in chains to Jerusalem. After his conversion St. Paul devoted all his energies to the propagation of the Christian religion, and spent his life in carrying the glad tidings of redemption to the nations that till then had sat ‘in darkness and in the shadow of death.’

GRAINS OP GOLD

THE EUCHARIST.

He waits thee still, the Lord of glory waits, In His small lodging, thy forgotten guest, While the long hours drain on from East to West. Till day runs weary through the sunset gates; He waits there through the loneliness of night, While the slow stars their silvery course fulfil In.the grey morn. He stays and waits thee still, In His small shrine, where gleams the flickering light, Forgotten? Ah, in His Eternity, What if the Lord of Life forgotteth thee — Sacred Heart Review.

It is supreme folly to attempt to find happiness by taking the short-cut across the laws of life. There is but one end to all these endeavors. They all end in tragedy.

There are souls in the world which have the gift of finding joy everywhere and of leaving it behind them wherever they go. Their influence is an inevitable gladdening of the heart. These bright life arts have a great work to do for God.—Father Faber. Let us bear in mind this truth —that on the bed of death, and in the day of judgment, to have saved one soul will be not only better than to have won a kingdom, but will overpay by an exceeding great reward all the pains and toils of the longest and most toilsome life. Cardinal Manning. ’

The office of simplicity is to make us go straight to God, without listening to human respect, without consulting our own interest; to make us speak frankly and from our heart; to make us act simply, without any mingling of hypocrisy or artifice ; finally, to keep us far from duplicity or deceit. — St. Vincent de Fault