The Family Circle

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XLIX, Issue 35, 7 September 1922, Page 45

The Family Circle

LIFE'S BRIEF JOURNEY. \ 'Tis a little journey, This we walk; / . Hardly time for murmurs Time for talk; Yet wa learn to quarrel, And to hate. Afterwards regret it. When too late. . ' \ '" Now and then 'tis sunshine— Sometimes dark.. Sometimes care and sorrow Leave their mark. Often there is laughter— Often tears. ..I " v Sometimes there are losses 0? Felt for years. Yet we walk the pathway, Side by side, Where, so many others Lived and died. We can see the moral. "Understand ..■•■'. ; Yet we walk not always Hand in hand. Why must there be friction And regret; Words and deeds we after . Would forget? Why must there be hatred, Greed and -strife? Do we need such shadows Here in life? 'Tis a.little journey Soon gone by, 1 Let's be friends together Ere we die!

THE HIGH HONOR OF SERVING AT MASS. Every boy who is chosen by the priest to serve Mass should look on the work of Mass serving as a high honor and not as a burden. He should try to learn to serve N Mass correctly and to answer accurately. And above all, a Mass server should behave quietly and piously at the altar. Some boys think Mass serving a burden and a bother and do not try to do this holy work well. There are boys who think it a great bother to get up early to serve Mass. There are other boys, who rise early but are careless in preparing themselves for Mass. They rush into the sacristy with soiled hands and faces and with dirty boots. They do not try to answer correctly, to walk properly, to bend their knees and their heads at the proper!times and in the proper ways. \ Such boys do not think about what holy Mass is. They forget that-the Mass is the same sacrifice as the sacrifice of the Cross. They forget that our Blessed Lord is present on the altar looking at them and that He is there offered up for the living and the dead. If they remembered these things, they would tv.y to serve Mass well. It is a great blessing to attend Mass. It is a greater blessing to serve Mass. God gives many graces ..and blessings to all who assist at Mass, but He blesses in a very special way, boys who serve Mass piously. - Around God's altar are His angels adoring Him, and a boy should join with the angels—especially with his guardian angel—in adoring Christ in the holy Mass. In Ireland, long, long ago, Mass was said in the early morning (Adam. Vita S. Columbae iii. 12) St Gall said Mass "at daybreak" (Wal. Strabo Vita S. Galli cap. xxvi). And a thousand strokes were given to anyone who did not say Mass very early (Reg. Columban, cap. iv). Hence, when Mass servers rose for early services in

old days, boys /of to-day should try to keep up the good old Irish custom. In penal days, in Ireland, in many places, there were no churches;. and Irish boys in rain and cold, served Mass in open fields, or under the shade of a whitethorn bush. In several parishes people can show you the old Mass garden, the Massing bush, the old stone altars, where priests said Mass in the open and where boys knelt on a mat of hay or straw in the cold and rain to serve Mass. And they felt honored and pleased to be near the priest, who was hunted by the soldiers, and who said'Mass while men watched, lest the soldiers would kill him and massacre the people. In every county in Ireland are to be found several old spots dear to Catholics, where Mass was said in dark and cruel days, when priests and flocks had no churches and were hunted like wolves. In the counties that I know best there are holy old spots pointed out still, as the places where Holy Mass was said in fear and stealth and where Mass servers ventured in great danger to serve Mass and to say the' very words that you say at the altar. Irish Mass servers are the successors of those boys, who loved and gloried to serve Mass, even in the winter snow and wind. In Co. Monaghan, in Magheracloone, Drumsnat and Currin are Mass rocks and Mass gardens. In Co. Cavan, many visit the old Mass rock at Shannon Wood. In Co'. Down, near Rostrevor, stands the famous Carraig-on-Affrin, the Mass rock, with its frightful history of slaughter. In the same county, stands the Liss-an-Affrin, . the Mass forth, and Glen-an-Affrin„ Loch-an-Affrin, Affrin Nahoo tell of Mass Glen, Mass Lough, and Mass Cave. Two booklets of the Catholic Truth Society, The Penal Days and The Little Ark, have interesting records of Mass in old Donegal and in Clare. Great saints loved to serve Mass. St. John Berchmans (1599-1621), the patron of Mass servers, loved this holy work and God gave him great blessings and great graces, on account of his love of the altar and its services. Altar boys should pray to this dear, young saint to help them to know and to love the work. In the days of King Henry VIII, in England, there was a gentleman, Sir Thomas More, who was chief judge in that country. He, when he was honored and wealthy, loved to serve Mass every day. On his way to the law courts, this holy man used to go into a church to serve Mass. He was a man who was always happy and •in good humor ' and by his jests often made people laugh. One day, the Duke of Norfolk laughed at him for kneeling at the altar serving Mass just as if he were a little boy and not a grown-up man, a man of learning and a great friend of the king. Sir Thomas replied, "Should the King of England perform a similar service, he would be adding to his honor and exalting the dignity of his majesty. How much more, then, shall I do so when the King of Kings is in question?" This is a great lesson for boys. And. a great lesson, too, is, that to Sir Thomas— on account of his love for serving at the altar—was given a great grace, the grace of salvation, through martyrdom. For King Henry wished his friend to be disobedient to the Pope, and to become a Protestant, and on his refusal he was taken prisoner and put to death. —Rev. E. J. Quigley, in A Book for Altar-Servers. ;.'' SPRING'S CERTITUDE. '■■-.'•. . \ This , is the season of the joyant tomb: ~-■• The seals of winter fall,, her guardsmen flee With stricken fear to lie's hypocrisy. - Young spring walks forth: his robe of roseate bloom In alabastrum of the dawn's perfume. ■ , In. tones dominical, each cloister tree Repeats the cenacle of symphony: Matin and vesper hymn the new-made neume. All springtime pass, save one—save only This, The Spring that is our faith's redemptioning. Death's grave is buried: certain hope may sing, In Christ's array, expectancy of bliss, ■'.'■•''/• '■'■'' './. And love bend low what loving feet to kiss, " What footprints follow of .one victor Spring. " , / i \. / , x I Michael Eaels,' S.J., in America: . •

_' ■.'-"' ALL SAID. - ; ' •j : A shopkeeper had in his employ a man so lazy as'to be utterly worthless. v One day, his patience exhausted, he discharged him. "Will you give me a character?" asked the lazy-one. The employer sat down to write a non-committal letter. His effort resulted as follows: "The bearer of this letter has worked for me one week and I am satisfied." v NO FLOWERS. It was the kindly custom in the village for the well-to-do inhabitants to make good any loss which the villagers might sustain through the death of their live-stock. The retired manufacturer, who had only recently settled in the village, was ignorant of this laudable practice, and was considerably puzzled by the visit of a labourer's wife, who explained that she had lost a pig. "Well, I haven't got it," exclaimed the bewildered new-comer. "What I mean, sir, is, of course, the pig died," nervously explained the woman. "Well, what do you want me to do?" cried the exasperated man. "Send a wreath?" KNEW IT WAS THERE. The judge had before him a witness—an old man—who was telling the jury, that he had "knowed the path for sixty year, and my feyther tould, as he heerd my grandfey ther say " "Stop!" said the judge,- "we can't have hearsay evidence here." "Not!" exclaimed Giles. "Then how dost know who my feyther was, 'cept by hearsay?" After the laughter had subsided, the judge said: "We can only be guided by what you have seen with your eyes." "Oh, that be blowed for a tale!" replied the man. "I ha' got a bile on the back of my neck, and I never see'd 'un, but I be prepared to swear that he's there, bother 'un!" • SMILE RAISERS. , Father (to son, after his first clay as office-boy): "I'm glad you got on well, and that they showed confidence in you." Son (proudly): "Confidence! Why, the cashier even gave me the job of checking the ready reckoner!" Boarder (on leaving): "Madam, you are on of the most honest persons I have ever met." Landlady: "I am glad to hear you say that, sir. "Yes, your honesty is remarkable. On your sign you say, 'Boarders taken in.' " «? The townsman was swaggering around the farmyard imparting'gratuitous advice to the old farmer. Having criticised the poultry, the hayricks, and the rest of the old fellow's possessions, the townsman visited the stables. _ " „ "I say, do you know how to make a slow horse fast.'' he asked. "Yes," said the farmer. "Don't feed him." "Herbert!" exclaimed Mr. Meekton's wife, on his return from a journey. "I am at a loss to understand your conduct when we parted. I said good-bye to you. "Yes, Henrietta." "Why didn't you say 'good-bye' in response?" "I was just about to do so, Henrietta, but I checked /myself. I was afraid you would accuse me of trying to have the .last, word." . . , .... ,