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Show -t jL . C .iii,iwuviiiwi4)iiiiiwuiiii-.i"'lM'''J'IJ,tlll'.!"'''''l'j,S -..-va j. i : ; : ' . . $ i X 1 . ' ' k : - t. f " , 4 i i . . - $ t t - i ' . .'V ' - " ' k ' " -A - " ' J- $ .cr x V ! t . ; , -tf . - - , V - ' ' ' t s-vZf A x- ' ' : iliX kO'- ---;: . v X X i ijys- i -r i - - . s it , - - - i t ' ;.y ; -V X . X : t SY'fjir:-rlp '':X . -x X V ' " " 1 - i X i : vXhx - y -X . X 5: THE QUEEN OF MAY. ' J J ' 4. MONTH OF THE SACR.ED! HEAR.T (The Bccord, Louisville. Ky.) "Hail dune! Queen month of all the year, , p'air Summer's first fair child, -- - - " -Kose-crowned, wc dedicate thee to ; " The Heart of Jcus mild." . lay, the month of Our Blessed. 3 lot her, . has passed away flown off from our devoted hearts like a dear little bird escaping from a caressing hand that would hold it always, and we know not whether any of us will ever greet it again. ; The close of Our Lady's month.-however,' commingles com-mingles ihe "bitter-sweel,"' for it opens for us the sweet month of June ;inonth of the Sacred Heart. Holy mother church, with an intuitive sense of the beautiful .takes inspiration from Him who pointed a moral -with the lilies of the-field, and dedicates the month of June the mouth of roses to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, commemorating with prayer and praise ihe redeeming love of His heart for us, that sublime love of which He himself him-self speaks so eloquently in those glowing words '"Greater love than this no man hath than he lay down his life for his friends." ' Among all ihe fair and fragrant flowers that adorn the bosom of mother earth, the fairest and sweetest of all is the rose the sovereign among flowers the fitting emblem of love. The rose, the red rose, by excellence with its. heart of blood, is an exquisite emblem of love, the redeeming lov of ih Sacred Heart of Jesus. The Sacred Heart loves us all intensely, but He has special love for -each one of us individually, and, of course, He wants us to love Him in return. Listen 1o His sweet, gentle "It isMy delight to dwell with the children of men." and herrHis ever tender pleading, ''Child, give !Me thy heart." Xow. we. all know what it is to Ioyo. any one. 'Naturally, we expect them to love'us in reciproca-tj0l, reciproca-tj0l, "i0 return the compliment." "Love for love in equal measure" is the only compensation for love. It is gratitude's best offering. If any one should ask us why we love our mother so intensely, we would at once reply because she loves me so mrioh she is so good, so sweet to me. Precisely! And that is jusi the reason ws should Jnvc the sacred sa-cred heart with all the fulness ndn force of love's intensity. 0 Wheii we love any one, ' e delight to show it in our actions; it finds expression almost'' uncon- , sciously, and we reap highest happiness in the expression ex-pression of it, for it givjs pleasure to the object of our choice. - : - During: this month of roses, then, the carnival days of the sacred heart, let us give special expression ex-pression of our love for Him. Bring clusters of this fair and fragrant flower to adoi'n Bis shrine Avhile we gather around it to take part in ihe beautiful beau-tiful service of prayer and praise with which holy church commemorates the redeeming love of the sacred heart. Let us do something every day duri ing the month in his honor. Go to maos if we can, and visit Him daily in the tabernacle, but above all, let us cultivate in ouh hearts the. roses of virtues vir-tues which are His characteristics meekness, humility hu-mility and charity. We adorn His shrine with flowers, lights, jewels and laces." but we, at' the same time, should endeavor to offer Him gifts of higher value in patient forbearance one towards another. Our dear Lord, who is all sweetness, could not be pleased with our flowers, however beautiful,1 or-our jewels and laces, however grand, while there is one of His creatures to whom wc refuse forgiveness, or. one whose heart we would stab wound -with uu-kindness uu-kindness and harshness. Heal the broken wing of the little bird, and'it will sing as sweetly as 'ever, but "The bird with the broken pinion -will' never soar high again." Then to be devoted children of the sacred heart, we cannot afford to be cold,'proud and haughty. We must cultivate the heart being kind, loving, modest and simply - like our Divine Master. Thus, we can give expression to our, love for II im in the way most agreeable to Him offering Him the roses that will hold Him captive-bound in our own hearts here, and bloom eternally in never-fading never-fading beauty in the kingdom of heaven. "There 'is no love like Thine, Sweet Lord; there is no live like Thine; -..' .- : . Its flames are from eternity, can-they be quenched by time? '. . Loove of creatures may soon coll, now can tlie world be kind There's noting constant but Thyself this fickle heart to bind." . . ' ' JCATHLEEX DON LKA.VV. |
