Friends at Court

New Zealand Tablet, Volume L, Issue 36, 13 September 1923, Page 3

Friends at Court

GLEANINGS FOR NEXT WEEK’S CALENDAR. September 16, Sunday.—Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost. ~ 17, Monday,—Stigmata of St. Francis. ■ „ 18, Tuesday.—St. Joseph Cupertino, Confessor. ~,, 19, Wednesday.—SS. Januarius and Companions, Martyrs. Ember Day. Fast. ~ 20, Thursday.—SS. Eustachius and Companions, Martyrs. ~ 21, Friday.—St. Matthew, Apostle. Ember Day, Fast. , ~ 22, Saturday.—St. Thomas of Villanova, Bishop and Confessor. Ember Day. Fast, no abstinence. re Stigmata of St: Francis. God, not content with enriching His saints interiorly with every grace, has also vouchsafed to bestow on certain of . them external signs of their conformity to their Crucified Lord, by miraculously imprinting on their bodies the marks of His five Sacred Wounds. One of those who were favored with this extraordinary grace was the seraphic St, Francis of Assisi. St. Matthew, Apostle. Before being called to follow Christ, St. Matthew was a tax-gatherer, and bore the name of Levi. After the Ascension he preached for some time in Judea, and under Divine inspiration wrote his Gospel to convince the Jews that Christ was the long-expected Messias. St. Matthew afterwards proceeded to the East, where he won the crown of martyrdom. , St. Thomas of Villanova, Confessor. St. Thomas was born near Villanova, in Spain, A.D. 1488. From his parents he inherited that charitable disposition which was his distinguishing characteristic during the whole course of his life. He was also remarkable for a profound humility, which caused him to shun the admiration of the world, and which his appointment to the Archbishopric of Valentia served only to render more evident. St. Thomas died in 1555. Grains of Gold SONG OF CONSECRATION. We place to-day our homesteads in Thy keeping, 0 Sacred Heart ! Ami pray mat Thee and we, awake or sleeping, May never part That all our hopes, in sowing or in reaping, From Thee may start. We give to Thee the gladness of the morning When toil begins, And beg that we may never once be scorning The truth that wins. And plead with Thee to give us timely warning Of crimes and sins. Wo give to Thee the noonday in its glory, When courage grows; W© give to Thee the evening song and story, The night’s repose. When every thought of jet-black head or hoary To dreamland goes. We consecrate the little ones God gave, us To Thee this day, That their unsullied hearts and minds may save us From soul decay. Their prayers avert the sin that would enslave us On Life’s dark way. Our homes, our hearts, our pain, our joy, our sorrow We give to Thee, In hope that some true pleasure we may borrow From joys that be, And asking only on some glad to-morrow God’s face to see. j