OUR BLESSED LADY.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume LII, Issue 51, 23 December 1925, Page 61

OUR BLESSED LADY.

In the corner of a dark hut, with a dim light beside him, sat a bearded publican. “Why do people travel if they can’t pay ; their toll?” he growled, and again he went over the tirade he had earlier in the day let loose against the paupers who had passed | that way. “It’s been quite a good day,” he declared in a wheezy chuckle, as he turned the money V over in his hand, “but it could have been | better, far better!” j. This and like scenes were those witnessed by the angels as they looked down on Bethlehem j the first Christmas Eve. Hardly a heart was | found that was not steeped in sin. The whole world was buried in a cloud of darks'ness that knew neither lovfe nor fidelity. Vice I was the only virtue ; self-satisfaction the only

, ~ , . ,'• v, ■■■,'• • •''-, good; balan everywhere neld undisputed sway ~, , r J as lord and master. T , , . . , ~,,,. It was surely a sad sight to behold, this . ~ . .. ~" Jz fo , ' sinful world of ours Not the spot that one ... , „ , * would have chosen for the God of purity and . . _. , , „ , love to take up His abode.- Yet the angels rejoiced as they awaited the birth of the ltedeemer, for they saw that one heart at , Hi, ~. , , least could welcome their King. Jhe world was corrupt indeed, but the Heart of Jesus was to be adored by one human heart that was pure and loving-the Immaculate Heart or "Vi *i w J ' .Mary's whole life had been one long act of lore for God. Her spotless purity had given her an insight into His secrets never at-

I a hied by philosopher or theologian. To know God is to love Him, and so her love surpassed that of the greatest of saints, even of the angels themselves. The first great servant of the Sacred Heart possessed in a pre-eminent degree the distinctive mark of this devotion—a deep-rooted, fervent love. When our Blessed Mother took her newhorn Babe into her arms and pressed Him to her bosom, no words were needed to express the love that was in her heart. She loved Him as her God and she loved Him as her own flesh and blood. She was His forever, only His, and He was her very own. During this Jubiee year; as the angels look clown from on high, will they find in us some semblance to our model, Alary ? As servants of the Sacred Heart does our purity resemble the purity of this first great servant ? Is our love an imitation of that which she manifested in the stable at Bethlehem? Unlike Mary we have been stained by sin, and the fervor of our love has cooled, but true repentance will set matters right again. The zeal of Peter, who had denied Our Lord, and the love of Mary Magdalen, who had given public scandal, are made to stand out clearly against the background of their for-

mer sins; their great love for. the Master appears all the brighter when compared with their past infidelity. So will it be with us if we make our lives what they are meant to be. When the Infant Jesus comes to us He will be welcomed as He should be welcomed by servants of His Sacred Heart. He has no need of our gold and silver and all that they may buy; He cares not for the noisy feasting with which worldlings celebrate His coming; what He desires of us is a pure heart inflamed with a generous love, a heart that is the closest possible imitation of the Immaculate Heart of His Virgin Mother; one, like hers, perfectly united to His own, that unquenchable furnace which burns with love for men. —Joseph Fallon, S.J., in the Canadian Messenger. 'i-