Grains of Gold

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XLIX, Issue 49, 14 December 1922, Page 3

Grains of Gold

A VISION. Methinks I hear the Baptist preach . The coming of tho Sou of Man V And where the River Jordan flows.. Outlive the great Redeemer’s plan. Methinks I see Tiberias, And watch the wild waves kiss the shore "Where Peter, Andrew, Janies, and John Laid down their nets for evermore. . And then a Man of wondrous mien Came oil of lowly Nazareth Flamed by a fast of forty days— The conqueror of sin and death— Some hail Him as the Son of God, The Father of the world to come, And yet a murmur fills the air In quaint and old Capharnaum; And far. away on Calvary Dame Nature shudders, quakes, and grieves To see the Savior of the World Nailed to the Cross between two thieves. —Michaeu V. Ham, ox. <~X*X*X*X*> THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST. Religion in the individual is the indispensable fact necessary to make legislation for the masses of people effective. Only through the spirit of Christ has real charity ever been fostered. When the Catholic Church opened the field of Catholic Social Service, then was her influence felt in- shaping sound social legislation. This was but history repeating itself. "Whenever the economic or social system of nations, or of the civilised world itself, called for reconstruction, the greatest asset to successful reconstruction was the Catholic Church. ■ The Church subdued the proud minds and wanton hearts of Pagan Greece and Rome, brought Christian principles to the barbaric hordes of northern Europe, entered the tentNof the Iroquois, and planted the cross in a thousand wildernesses. She brought great minds trained according to Christian standards to bear on problems that ..-threatened to disrupt society, and now she strives to renew our modern world with the spirit of Christ, believing, after centuries of experience, that nothing in the whole range of social science can solve present problems without it. b ,;v We, as Catholics will fail in the high duty we owe ; our country if wo do not bring the teachings of our Church before tho world at this critical period of history, when civilisation is, in many ways, being shaped anew. Shall we leave its fate to the destructive forces,of social, revolution, or shall we do all in our power to see that it is wisely fashioned by the loving hands of Christp wy