Friends at Court

New Zealand Tablet, 13 November 1919, Page 3

Friends at Court

♦ . GLEANINGS FOR NEXT WEEK'S CALENDAR. Nov. 16, Sunday. Twenty-third Sunday after Pentecost. „ 17, Monday.St. Gregory Thaumaturgus, Bishop and '"* 'K/ / "' Confessor. ■■ -■' : •''}''■ ■■,'!,;* 18, Tuesday.—Dedication of the Basilicas of SS. Peter 9 " '" , and Paul, Rome. " r • "„ 19, Wednesday.St. Elizabeth, Widow. „ 20, Thursday. Felix of Valois, Confessor. „ 21, Friday.—Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. „ 22, Saturday.—St. Cecilia, Virgin and Martyr. Dedication of the Basilicas of SS. Peter and Paul. , These two basilicas are situated in Rome, the one on the Vatican Hill, the other on the road which leads to the mouth of the Tiber. They are famous throughout the world for size, richness, and magnificence of decoration but the most precious treasures which they contain are the relics of the two great ApostlesSt. Peter, the Vicar of Christ; and St. Paul, the zealous missionary of the infant Church. 'Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. ; According to a pious tradition dating from the earliest times, the Blessed Virgin, when a child, was taken by her parents to the temple of Jerusalem, where she was carefully instructed and trained by pious matrons in the practice of virtue. The feast we celebrate to-day commemorates the generous enthusiasm with which the Blessed Virgin dedicated her life to the service of her Creator — an offering which she never recalled by the slightest sinful act. St. Cecilia, Virgin and Martyr. :j. St. Cecilia was a member of a noble Roman family. Betrothed by her parents, against her own wishes, to Valerian, a pagan, she succeeded in converting him and his brother to the Christian religion. On this coming to the ears of the Prefect of the city, the two brothers were beheaded. The same sentence was passed on St. Cecilia, but owing to the clumsy manner in which the executioner performed his task the holy virgin lingered for three days in great agony, A.D. 230. GRAINS OF GOLD THE PRESENTATION. Only a Mother, travel-spent, Caressing a little Child, Pressed by the throngs that came and went None the hand of friendship lent— But the Mother sadly smiled. The wintry sun of that olden day Fondled her features fair, And it cast its mellowest golden ray On the Child, as in her arms He lay When brought to the Temple there. Only a Babe in the surging crowd, A Babe with its Mother mild Whose face the veils of sorrow cloud When aged Simeon tells aloud The fate of her little Child. REFLECTIONS. The thoughts that absorb you .will also mould you.— Bishop Lightfoot. The way of the spiritual path is strewn with the wrecks of souls that might have been friends of Christ. . - A courageous heart calls out the best in head and hands. You cannot think keenly and accurately when your heart feels like lead within you. Love of God does not exist without love of one another. The love of God in a man's heart is demonstrated and, as it were, certified by kindness to men. Bishop Hedley. To be a -gentleman is to be honest, to be gentle, to be generous, to be brave, to be wise, and, possessing all these qualities, to exercise them in the most graceful outward L'manner.;... W~. : Luxury and dissipation, soft and gentle as their approaches are, and silently as they throw their silken charms about the heart, enslave it more than the most active and turbulent vices. Hannah More.

-;.'.;. At -any .moment death may come, not only to overturn" all our plans, to disturb all our pleasures, to tear from us all our goods, but, what is infinitely more terrible, to lead us to the Judgment Seat of God. —Bossuet. , . ~