Friends at Court

New Zealand Tablet, 29 August 1918, Page 3

Friends at Court

’ ■■■■••• ~...,■ ■ ■ ■■ . GLEANINGS FOR NEXT WEEK’S CALENDAR September 1, Sunday. Fifteenth Sunday after Pente- .. . cost. V , ~ 2, Monday.—St. Stephen, King and Confessor. ~ 3, Tuesday.—Of the Feria. ~ 4, Wednesday.—Of the Feria. ~ 5, Thursday.—St. Lawrence Justinian, Confessor. ~ 6, Friday.—-Of the Feria. ~ 7, Saturday.—Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary. St. Stephen, King and Confessor. St. Stephen was the first King of Hungary. Brought up from infancy in the Catholic religion, his greatest ambition was to bring his idolatrous subjects to a knowledge of the true Faith. At the same time he endeavored to promote their temporal interests. A brave and skilful general, he never engaged in war except when an honorable peace was impossible. St. Stephen died in 1038, at the age of 60. St. Lawrence Justinian. St. Lawrence Justinian was first Patriarch of Venice, in which city he was born in 1381. He was General of the Canons-Regular of St. George; Bishop of Venice (1433), Patriarch (1451). He built at Venice ten churches and several monasteries. He died in the year 1456. His beatification was ratified by Clement VII. in 1524, and he was canonised in 1690 by Alexander VIII. GRAINS OF GOLD. my OFFERING. Almighty God, Supreme Eternal King, Enthroned in glory ’mid the blessed throng Of saints and angel choirs that ever sing Thy praise ! Look down on me, Thy child : frail thing Of earth, though fashioned after Thee, O Strong Almighty God, Supreme Eternal King ! To Thee, unworthy though I be, I bring My pledge of poverty. Amid the song That saints and angel choirs forever sing, I vow to -wear, till death, the robe and x’ing Of virgin chastity ; to Thee belong, Almighty God, Supreme Eternal King, My will axxd life. O may’ the fountain-spring Of Jesus’ blood—whose praise let every tongue And saints and angel choirs fox-ever sing— Make sweet my sacrifice ! To Thee I cling, In hope that after death Thy saints among, Almighty God, Supreme Eternal King, With angel choirs I may forever sing. —-Lionel E. Merlin. The very essence of Christianity consists in a willingness to deny self for the benefit of othei's. Its central fact is redemption by the Crossa great act of self-sacrificing love oxx the part of the Son of God for the redemption and' restoration of humanity. It is the religion of the Cross and of the Crucified. Every man has time enough to do his whole duty. When he leaves a duty undone or discharges it in the consciousness that it is not as well done as it should be his lack of time is never the real reason for his failure or his shox'tcoming. For duty is God’s call, and God never asks a man to do what he has not time to do well. Take an interest in human trouble and sxxffex-ing, or the church sex’vice you enjoy so much will not bring you any xxearer heaven, wrote Bishop Hedley. Be kind, considerate, gentle, and helpful to those in your home and your circle, or the largest number of the most devout prayer books will be no shield at the judgment, no rampart in the day of visitation. *