Friends at Court

New Zealand Tablet, 27 November 1919, Page 3

Friends at Court

GLEANINGS FOR NEXT WEEK’S CALENDAR. Nov. 30, Sunday.—First Sunday of Advent. Dec. 1, Monday. St. Andrew, Apostle. ~ 2, Tuesday.—St. Bibiana, Virgin and Martyr. ~ 3, "Wednesday. —St. Francis Xavier, Confessor. ■ ~ 4, Thursday. St. ‘ Peter Chrysologus, Bishop, Confessor, arid Doctor. „ 5, Friday. Of the Octave. „ 6, Saturday— St. Nicholas, Bishop and Confessor.

First Sunday of Advent.

Advent is a time of. prayer and penance, which the Church has appointed to dispose her children for the worthy celebration of the birth of Our Saviour. During Advent we ought to prepare ourselves to receive the Son of God, quitting the bosom of His Father in order to become man and converse with us. We ought daily to steal a little time from our affairs that we may meditate on the following questions : —Who comes ? Why does He come? What should be the fruit of His coming? Let all our desires call on Him with the just, and the Prophets of the Old Testament, who longed for Him so much; and to open a way for Him into our hearts, let us purify ourselves by confession, fasting, and Communion.

St. Andrew, Apostle.

St. Andrew, the first disciple of Christ, and afterward an Apostle; was, like his brother Peter, a fisherman. Previous to his recognition of Christ as the Messias he had been numbered among the disciples of John the Baptist. The career of Andrew as an Apostle after the death of Christ is unknown. Tradition tells us that, after preaching the Gospel in Scythia, Northern Greece, and Epirus, he suffered martyrdom on the cross at Patrae, in Achaia, 62 or /0, A.D. A cross formed of beams, obliquely placed, is _ styled St. Andrew’s Cross. St. Andrew is the patron saint of Scotland. He is also held in great veneration in Russia, and, according to a tradition, preached the Gospel in that country. In both countries there is an order of knighthood named in his honor. St. Bibiana, Virgin and Martyr. St. Bibiana was the daughter of a Roman noble named Flavian, who himself gave his life for the faith. The confiscation of her property, with its consequent privations, having failed to shako her constancy in the profession of Christianity, she was subjected to cruel tortures, and finally scourged to death, A.D. 363. GRAINS OF GOLD A MORNING AND EVENING PRAYER TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN. Evening. Avo Sanctissima, I breathe this prayer to thee; Ave Purissima, pray thou this night for me! Plead that the evil I have done Be fully pardoned through thy Son, And oh, sweet Mother, let me share Thy tender love, thy watchful care. Thou wilt not spurn me, for thou art The Mother of each orphaned heart ; Soothe, then, the griefs within my breast And lull thy child to peaceful rest ! Protect mo while in sleep I lie, Receive .me if in sleep I die, That I, unworthy though I be, May love thee through eternity! Amen. Morning. Ave Sanctissima, our guardian through the night, Mater Carissima, I greet thee with the light; Be with me through the coming day In all I do and think and say. That deeds and thoughts and words may bo The fruit of Ohrist-like charity; To others’ faults may I be blind, To every living creature kind, And, ever mindful what thou art, • May I be wholly pure in heart! Against my soul, so prone to fail, Let neither doubts nor sin prevail, And may I, when life’s day is past, Through thy dear Son reach Heaven at last! Amen. —John L. Stoddard.

■ • The’ wisdom of some people consists largely of knowing what other people ought to do. ”