PEARLS FROM HOLY SCRIPTURE FOR OUR LITTLE ONES

New Zealand Tablet, 28 January 1915, 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 be converted and become as little children , you shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.’ — St. Matt, xviii. 3.

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THE STORY OF A BOY MISSIONARY.

‘ Suffer .the little children to come unto Me, and forbid

them not, for of such is the Kingdom of God.’— St. Mark, x. 14.

A missionary leads people to the knowledge and love of our Lord Jesus Christ, and makes them members of the true Church. There is a college in Paris where boys are trained to work as missionaries in China and other pagan lands. When those boys become young men, they are ordained priests. On the day they are to leave home and native land to preach the Gospel in foreign countries, there is Solemn Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament, and after it the young priests sit in the sanctuary of the college chapel, while their relatives and friends kiss their feet, and the choir sings—‘ How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the Gospel of peace, of them that bring glad tidings of good things !’ Then the young missionaries leave France, never to see it again, and many of them shed their blood for Christ and become glorious martyrs. In their old college the portraits of those brave young men are preserved, with their clothes and the instruments of the torture which they endured and by which they won their crown. And if you ever happen to go to Paris and visit that college, the students will show you the martyrs’ pictures and relics, and when they take leave of you, they will ask you to pray that they, too, may obtain from God the grace to shed their blood for the Lord Jesus and so die for Him Who died for them.

But now I must tell you the story of a . little American boy, who, while yet a child, did a missionary’s work. The facts which I relate were printed in the San Francisco Monitor in the middle of the year 1914. The boy’s name was Harold, and he was not quite three years old. Like the dawn of a summer day, when the air is fresh and pure and the sun rises amidst the joyous songs of birds, the first years of this baby’s life were bright and sweet and full of gladness. Though his parents were not Catholics, he was sent with his brothers and sisters to the Catholic parish school, St. Peter’s. While there Harold saw one day a catechism with holy pictures, which were explained to him. With these illustrations he was greatly delighted. When he returned home, he went to his father to show him the picture of our Divine 'Saviour. The other children crowded round and wanted to join in the explanation; but Harold would not allow themho alone was to show the picture. He turned the leaves till he found our Blessed Lord, and pointing to it, he said: That is my dear Lord, papa!’ Then he searched till ho came to where our Redeemer was nailed through the feet and hands to the Cross, and he exclaimed, ‘ There is my poor Lord, papa !’ He then showed his great love and sorrow by clasping the picture to his breast. Some time afterwards he fell ill : and a Catholic lady, visiting Harold’s mother, inquired if the child had been baptised. The mother said ‘No,’ and when the lady asked to be allowed to call a priest, she consented. As Harold’s illness became rapidly worse, the clergyman was summoned hastily. When giving the Sacrament, the priest christened the child Francis Harold. The following night the little lad died and was carried Heavenwards ■ by his Guardian Angel to the dear Lord Whom ho loved so well. The tiny coffin was taken to the Catholic Church, and it was accompanied by the whole family

who were Protestants. The priest blessed the little body, which was then borne to the Holy Cross Catholic > Cemetery, where the parents had bought a plot of ground in which their baby was laid to rest. Now, what happened as the result of little Harold’s brief life, Baptism, and happy death ? His sisters and brothers—five of —insisted on being baptised as Harold was; and the intentions of the sorrowing parents were expressed by the mother, when she said : ‘We want to go the way our darling baby has gone.’ Young as Harold was, his love of our Divine Lord made him a good little missionary.

Prayer to be Said Often.

Sacred Heart of Jesus, may all on earth love Thee, - as Thou art loved in Heaven. —Amen.

The Guardian Angel’s Song as He Bears the Soul To Heaven,

My woi'k is done,

My task is o’er

And now I come,

Bearing it home, For the crown is won,

Alleluia!

For evermore.

My Father gave In charge to me This child of earth

E’en from its birth To serve and save,

Alleluia! And saved is he.

Cardinal Newman.