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Show CHRISTMAS. f' The season of Advent is drawing to a close, and that great central festival , of Christianity, for which it was a j preparation, is approaching, and will f "have passed ere another issue of The ! Intermountain Catholic comes from the press. We therefore take this occasion to wish our readers a happy Christmas, i that they may enjoy all the spiritual , I and temporal blessings of this great f. festival, and that they may live to en- f joy them for many years to come. f What a multitude of sacred memories j cluster round Christmas Day! How f the heart leaps with joy at the con- I templation of the glorious event it ; commemorates; "What feelings of grat itude well up from the grateful heart . at the thought of that boundless love j of God for men, that infinite mercy, , I i I which caused the Eternal Son of God j s to come down upon earth to link Him- self by ties of blood relationship with, until then, fallen, helpless humanity! Eighteen hundred and ninety-nine years ago, a child was born near Bethlehem Beth-lehem of Juda, and strange, joyous sounds fell upon the ears of the shep-, shep-, herds who were tending their flocks in the silent watches of the night sounds that the patriarchs and prophets had longed to hear, but which had not been heard on earth for four thousand years; the voices of angels rejoicing at the birth of man's Redeemer: Glory to God in 'the highest and peace on earth to men of good will. Mankind took up the sacred refrain and it has resounded through the world and will continue to resound through- out all ages to cheer the desponding heart, till the angel of eternity calls the muster roll of time, and it will continue con-tinue until it strikes and echoes on the chores of eternity. Glory to God in the highest, and peace ' on earth to men of good will. j |