FRIENDS AT COURT

New Zealand Tablet, Volume LII, Issue 9, 11 March 1925, Page 3

FRIENDS AT COURT

, GLEANINGS FOR NEXT WEEK’S ‘"'k CALENDAR. Jtoarch 15, Sun.—Third Sunday of Lent. St. Zachary. ~ 16, Mon. —Of the Feria. ~ 17, Tue. —St. Patrick, Bishop and Confessor. ~ 18, Wed. —St. Cyril of Jerusalem. Confessor and Doctor. ~ 19, Thur. —St. Joseph, Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary. ~ 20, Fri.—Of the Feria. „ 21, Sat. —St. Benedict, Abbot. ft St. Joseph, Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary. St. Joseph was chosen by God to watch over the infancy of Christ, to be a protector of Mary’s chastity, and to secure her from calumnies in the birth of her Divine Son. So great a dignity, such familiar intercourse with the Deity, required a sanctity far above the common. That St. Joseph possessed this, we know from the inspired Word of God. He is styled in the New Testament “a just man,” one, namely, endowed with all the virtues. From the fact that no mention is made of him after the finding of the Child Jesus in the Temple, we conclude that he must have died before the beginning of Our Lord’s public ministry. We cannot doubt that he was comforted and assisted in his last moments by Jesus and Mary. Hence his intercession is sought particularly to obtain the grace of a happy death.

GRAINS OF GOLD TO ST. JOSEPH. 0 Joseph of the tender heart For human woe! What favors rare thou dost impart, Thy clients know. Who, needy, asking aught of thee With earnest mind But must proclaim thee thankfully, His patron kind? Thy generous prototype of yore With loving hand Fed thousands of the famished poor In Pharaoh’s land. But unto all of every clime On God’s wide earth Who seek thy aid at any time In stress or dearth, Thou lendest e’er a gracious ear And pitying eye, To soothe affliction’s bitter tear And heart-wrung sigh. How shall we marvel this is done If we recall That thy sweet spouse and Fostersou . In tender thrall Of love’s sweet fetters bind us fast: tThe one as Brother; The other clasps us to her breast—j; Our loving Mother. £pj Do thou, whom thus we love to call I] 1 • Our Father fond, ,| j, Direct us safe through life’s nightfall Bit To Heaven beyond.