The Family Circle

New Zealand Tablet, Volume LI, Issue 30, 16 July 1924, Page 53

The Family Circle

ANGELS AND CHILDREN AT MASS. ; Low bowed the heads of the children, The little ones kneeling in prayer And low bowed the heads of the angels, For hundreds of bright ones were there. Each little child with his angel: • Dear Lord, what a wonderful sight, To see the fair faces from Homeland ' Lit up with a heavenly light 1 Children assisting, adoring; The church filled with angels most fair Listening to catch faintest murmur Which tells that our Saviour is there. The flowers on the altar bloom brighter When Jesus approaches them near ; The air seems to bring sweetest message, And tells that our Jesus is here! The heads of the children bow lower, The hearts of the children grow glad. Our Jesus is there on the altar, No heart can be gloomy or sad 1 A church full of angels so holy Guarding the children He loves, Touching the heads bowed so lowly As mother-bird nestles her doves. The angels on journeys from Heaven Smile softly as onward they pass, When they see the bright angels in churches Guarding the children at Mass. — The Sunday Companion. CHILDLIKE FAITH. Only a childlike, simple faith can unlock to us Heavenly mysteries. If we are proud and self-sufficient God will hide from us those wonderful truths which He so freely reveals to the little ones, and to those who through humility of heart resemble them. If we would look beyond the veil, and penetrate the secrecy which enshrouds the life of our Divine Lord in the Holy Eucharist, we must put away any lurking, hidden pride, and bow down our whole soul, bringing our understanding into captivity unto the obedience of Christ. Then will His Holy Spirit be pleased to make known to us the secrets of that Divine activity which engages at every moment of the night and day the adorable Guest of the Tabernacle. He will show Him to us as a model of constant prayer —fulfilling in Himself the injunction which He has laid upon us, that we ought always to pray, and never grow faint. For at every moment He renders to the Father in our name the homage of perfect praise. It is the ManGod who in the Eucharist abases Himself in the presence of the Infinite Majesty of God. Messenger. AS YOUR CHILD GROWS. When you cut into the tender bark of a young tree, you can scarcely detect the cut with your eyes. But when the sapling grows larger, the bark spreads and with the tree grows the size of the cut. The knife "is long since broken and the hand which wielded it is in the grave, but the fissure is visible at a distance, as long as the tree stands. The tender sapling resembles the children whom Our Saviour has entrusted to your care. All the children hear from you and observe in you affects their souls at that age like the cut into the bark of the young tree. You may. not notice it, but as the child grows, the good or bad which, you- sowed grows, and when you are resting in your

graves that child will bear upon its forehead that mark, " be it a curse or a blessing, which you put there.—Bishop ' Von Ketteler. . V. •*, " THE VALUE OF PRAYER. We shall have learned something of great consequence to our eternal salvation if we can only be convinced of the importance and the necessity of prayer, and of the great value of ejaculatory prayers to sanctify each good work. Prayer is of more value at certain times and in certain conditions. Our prayers during suffering are of much more value than those offered while we are in good health. This accounts for the wonderful powers of the prayers of the saints and martyrs and of the value of the prayer of the good thief on the cross. The more holy a person is, or the more sanctifying grace he possesses, the more efficacious are his prayers. It is such a pity that so many will not make good use of all their little crosses to sanctify themselves by offering them for some good intention, and at the same time keep praying for the salvation of souls, or for some other supernatural intention. These little virtues, such as patience in little trials, or meekness when we feel inclined to anger, or sweetness of disposition when we feel moody or despondent, will soon raise us to great heights of. sanctity. If we will also pray during these little trials for the conversion of sinners our prayers will be very powerful. In all kinds of temptations and trials, no matter what their source may be, we can us© them to gain grace and to save souls if we will offer them for some supernatural end; and if we pray during these times our prayers will obtain great graces for others. CATHOLIC LOYALTY. If there is one thing which excites the admiration of non-Catholics it is the magnificent way in which Catholics rally round their bishops and priests. Preaching to a United Free Church congregation in Aberdeen recentlv, on the occasion of the installation of a new minister, the Rev. W. H. Leathern, a Presbyterian minister, of Helensburgh, held up the loyalty of Catholics to their Church ?s an example which other religious bodies would do well to imitate. “Catholics are taught from their earliest days by wise teachers,” said Mr. Leathern, “and are inclined, by a persuasive sense of gratitude, to magnify the Church, and its life of prayer, to glory in the privilege of conmon worship, to rest with hope and faith in the doctrine that is delivered to them, to love and defend their priesthood, and to repudiate that detached and critical attitude in which so many Protestants stand to their church. And in truth they claim their reward in, churches crowded with eager and devout worshippers, and in a conception of public worship that is not at the mercy of caprice and self-indulgence. It is time that the Scottish Churches took to heart a lesson so essential to our very existence.” —The Universe London. THE SISTER. She labors from the roseate dawn Till flowers droop and light is gone. Her hands have clasped the golden tool Of knowledge taught in heaven’s school, Her lips have framed life’s pictured tasks In words that scorn of guilded masks. Her mind : long-steeped r in silvered truth, Refines anon the gross, uncouth! Within her virgin heart is stored A dowry from her kindly Lord, So priceless none but she who leaves The world and all its pomp receives. When toll is taken of the dead. When mankind stands in leaden dread ■ Of God’s majestic judgment throne, The Sister’s deed will be ; mad© known, ’Tis then rewarded, sainted she, In Christ’s divine infinity.

. NUTS TO CRACK. How do you swallow a door? Bolt it. Why is a fool’s mouth like a hotel door ? It is always open? When are eyes not eyes? When the wind makes them water. v _ What bird is in season all the year? The weather cook. What will turn without moving? Milk. What odd number when beheaded becomes even ? Seven. What enlightens the world though dark itself? Ink. What is the difference between a milkmaid and a swallow? One skims the milk, the other the water. What is that which every one can divide, but no one can see where it has been divided? Water, THEN HE WENT. On Sunday afternoons Clark always called on Martha. One afternoon he stayed rather late and the family was beginning to get restless. No one realised this any better than did Clark, but it was just this consciousness of the situation that mad® him hesitate to take any action. Finally, taking his watch out of his pocket, h® looked at it a moment, and then asked; “It’s getting rather late, Martha. What time do you have tea on Sunday?” But Reuben, Martha’s little brother, took matters into his own hands at this point. “Just as soon as you go home,” h® replied, knowingly. <*^X*X*X*K> WASTED WRATH. The mother of a child who had been bitten by a foxterrier belonging to a. neighbor, Mrs. Green, gave an authoritative rat-tat at the latter’s door. The door was opened by a meek-looking elderly woman, and the vials of the mother’s wrath were poured forth. “You’re Mrs. Green, I suppose ?”s she said. “Green by name an’ green by natur’, I should call you, to keep a feroshus auimile like that there fox-terrier o’ yourn, a-bitin’ of innorceent children an’ a-terrierizing the whole neighborhood! I’ll have the law' of you! I’ll make you pay! D’you hear? I’ll sue you for damages and ’avo that ’orrible dog shot by Act of Parlyment, I will!” Then, as she paused for breath, the elderly woman produced a slate and pencil and said in a mildly apologetic tone, “Very sorry, but would you mind writin’ it all down? I’m stone-deaf!” SMILE RAISERS. Parson (in a whisper to mother, whose baby he is about to christen): “How do you spell her —Anna or Hannah?” Mother: “I don’t know, sir. I ain’t no scholar either.” *? A class of boys was asked to attempt to define an optimist. Some queer definitions were handed up, among them being the following: “An optimist is a man with a glass eye who is-thankful ho hasn’t got a cork leg as well.” ? “Punctuate the following,” ran a question in an examination paper the other day: “It was and I said not or.” No one supplied the correct solution, which was: “It was ‘ and,’ I said, not * or.’ ” »P The scene was a great industrial establishment. A * visitor was being shown over the works. “You must have a huge wages bill,” re remarked. “How many men work here?” “About half of them,” replied the manager.