Sunday Afternoon Readings

New Zealand Tablet, Volume LII, Issue 17, 13 May 1925, Page 51

Sunday Afternoon Readings

(By Right Rev. Mgr. Power for the N.Z. Tablet.)

If-- - The fairest love on earth is that with which ft" '• ’ ’ _ , ] ■ a mother.surrounds her child; it shows itt; self in every turn of tenderness that is exquisite; it ministers with unselfishness it spends itself in labors, in watchings, in ||| prayers. Pure and holy in itself, it gives to the Church and to the world their noblest and worthiest sons. Of all the memories that men cherish, that which is ever in their thought and sinks deepest in the heart, is \: the memory of their mother. It is with them in joy and in sorrow, increasing their happi■jifmoss, diminishing their pain. It is with them in seasons of grace, stimulating them to higher flights of goodness; it is with them ! in their dark periods of sin, reproaching, yet I ? giving encouragement and hope. The first dear face they loved in childhood, the first /• sweet words of tenderness that fell upon their infant ears are with them throughout life, and will still be with them when death calls. Such is the power of a dear memory, j such the influence of a first love. Now this same influence religion makes use of to keep us close to God.. Inspired by God Himself, religion holds up before our gaze another ij; Mother full of beauty and grace, that her jj'face and her form may ever be familiar to us, that we may ever logic upon her as the guide of our lives, our defence against all that would hurt our souls, our star of hope amid the encircling gloom of earth. And if the world’s purest and best en—- - shrine the memory of nature’s purest gift, their earthly mother, they also apply their Uy- genius to the lofty task of preserving the memory of that dearer and fairer Lady who is the loveliest gift of grace. How touching to see them weep over what they call the poverty of their attempts to portray her charms. They had no pen glowing with : celestial power, no brush spiritual enough, •Vlfl’.no tongue touched with seraphic fire, nc Jfj soul of art rich enough to describe the beauties of her who is clothed with the sun and y|: crowned with the stars. What glorious Shillings have been said of her by Ambrose and Augustine, by Bernard and Chrysos-.T-’ft. tom, by Damascene and Ephraem, by bin ' own Sedulius, and by men of refinement ii ■ every age, who loved to call her blessed ant v thus fulfil the inspired prophecy! j?? Now, this Lady of whom such glorioui ■ things are said is our Mother. This is ne mere creation of the fancy, no mere poetica fiction. When by the literal sense of tin :j. . { words of the dying Jesus, Mary was givei to John as Mother, and he to her as son she was declared to have received the offic 14, of motherhood towards all whom John repre sented, that is, towards all the adopted chil dren of God. The beautiful teaching of St Paul on the Mystic Body admits of no othe j interpretation: Christ must be formed ii I-- ; His disciples, these must grow up in t = - Christ, must-be clothed with Christ, mus be dead and buried and risen with , Chris! •■ must live,, no longer themselves, but mus have the life of Christ within them. Her

:v < .?■ -5.- *• - , - • XXVII— OUR MOTHER.

we have > described that i.; process of divine adoption by which we _ become members of -■ the Spiritual or Mystic Body of Christ, and., so find ourselves in the way of salvation. This is the spirit of the adoption of sons whereby we call God. our Father, and it is through this adoption, and not through His birth and death without it, that Christ becomes our Saviour. Now, since Mary is Mother, not of the Man Christ Jesus merely, but of Christ Jesus the Redeemer, and as Redeemer, and since Jesus perfects His redeeming work by forming us into a spiritual body to share His own life, it follows that there are two bodies, one the natural of which Mary is the real and natural Mother, the other Spiritual or Mystic of which she is the real and spiritual Mother. So that the one and same act ; of adoption that gives us the right to call the Redeemer’s Father Our Father, entities'us to call His Mother our Mother. “Corpore Mater capitis nostri , spiritu Mater memhrorwm Kjus ,” St. Augustine says: The corporal Mother of our Head, the spiritual Mother of His members. * The fact then being certain that Mary is , our Mother, it only remains to ask what are her rights and what her duties in' our- regard, .Well, she has the right to expect that we will do her credit, that we will show her reverence and love, that we will be filled with zeal to sing her praises till the echoes of our songs make a magic circle round the earth and the most distant islands give back the music of her name. Then, she : n turn has duties towards us. She is the Mother in the House of God, to watch over her children, to help them in their fight against sin, and to be their powerful Advocate when they fall. She must never forget that the Church , is the extension of the House ol .r. Nazareth of which she was Queen, and that the queenly office is never so gracious as when it uplifts the fallen and wins their pardon, i Therefore she is the Refuge of sinners, evei > standing before the face of the King, and bespeaking, good things for them. It was sinners Christ came to save, for sinners H< i established His Mystic Body, to sinners H< I gave His Mother to be their Mother, and she must prove the power of her advocacy 3 in their behalf by the success of her inter > cession. This will convince sinners that de I votion to her is a powerful corrective of sii j and a mark of predestination. This is wha i her motherhood is for, this is what make , her motherhood so precious a thing to us. 3 Therefore it should be our delight to sur - round her with every tribute and testimon; - of .affection. Above all, I repeat, we mus do her credit. She is our Mother, and (? w r must bring no shame to her. We must fulfi i the Church’s boast that “she makes her chil a dren'pure because she gives them Jesus a t their Food and Mary as their nursing-Mc , ther.” We must put on, that the whol t world may see it, the likeness of her virtues 3 Let our young men learn kindness and n< 1 . -

bility and goodness of her let'our young' b girls catch the chaste fragrance ~of her breath; let the heads of families love the Mother of the Holy House of Nazareth, and learn -the art of home-government from her and let all love and praise the Mother, of God, for she is our Mother too. She is neither loved nor praised enough nunqiidm satis de Maria. Sound, sound her praises higher still, and press into the sweet service / every skill! Let music sing her sweetest song, and painting fill her glowing page, let poetry explore every richest mine of imagery, and eloquence reach its highest flight, till the cords of Adam, entwined with the golden threads of grace, bring all the nations to her feet!

<X> THE CROWN. j|I would fashion a crown for the brow of my Queen, A crown of jewels rare; Ti|v , I would set it to match its brilliance \\\ i ’Gainst the radiance of her hair. I would search the world for those precious 1 gems Thus I mused as I sat in the ray Blue-white of the shrine’s one vigil lamp—- ‘ , * But, then, I had come to pray. “ J j 3 ■ _ V'V , I had come to pray, so I took my beads And began at the cross to tell, j. In Paters and Aves and Glorias r Her Joys-while the twilight fell. ■ H 1 s Through my fingers the chain of the mysb teries slipped |K * While the darkness came on apace v.! i And, was it the lamp or a halo of gold r That was lighting my Lady’s face? r ' t Hi" : I couldn’t be sure, but the tender light :! e Inher. eyes kept holding me there. jlt:v j/The shadows, perhaps, told of Sorrows *• - That comradeship helps one to bear. -i a' . So I counted the beads for the winding r road • d Which to Calvary’s summit curls; s And as I looked again, my Lady’s head e Seemed wreathed with a crown of pearls, e . || d So bright—that the search for this earth’s y poor gems ; f- Disturbed my soul no more; J- But, on through the Glorious Mysteries ; n My heart’s fast fervor bore. it „ • ::T . \ : ;■ ■r- • v s And when I came to the chaplet’s end Which the gate of Heav’n unbars, .’O': --I glanced once more, at the coronet’s gleam, 5 —Mary A. Hallinan. : re &1 r - —** V r Oi ! I i > - in. Let us itherefore; shake oft’ and burst the 18 bonds of sleepiness, and be instant and watch in. prayer, as the Apostle exhorts us, fxi ; saying continue in prayer and watch in the s : same. Cyprian,. o-