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Show I Marvelous Refining Influences of the I Catholic Church. I f '""'bolic church is a marvelous ar, 1 pi r server of the arts that I p,n'.t'' ' 'I('vate the soul of man. i ',!'f si-ni' times earn at her grand j '1'kts. Planted among and built large- bj tin- iior; yet these edifices are I 'J hi imes of the poor, their sol- " then comfort, the strong and gl-ir- 1 ll'tiM ,,f their eyes and thoughts i i;ti sunii,! cares and carking trials. .J -hiti-i-ture, music, painting, poetry, 1 'bxtufied ceremonial, the high j J r.-o.-n, l() qUOte st. Augustine, j J,': 'iiquulity of order, all those I ngi- dt- the handmaids and the cour- I r 's ' 'be Catholic church. A poor I 'T't-rs the sacred wails of her t, v-,r"" '"- Within and without what I j'r i if structure in vaulted na, ! t-J',c)'M "' Pillars, in aspiring ir"hes, I t-ff ! 's Whatp ictures hang j 'be walls and glow from th.i I j,".!'1 ftiass windows. Denicted there I &v rM"ry "f rhrit's Passion in the fr.',,0 'ross, the fourteen stations, n 'a'-h side; while the windows I j,, ."r 1ht' '"bristmas scene in Bethle- I fict.? (,r show the saints and I fand I" i,h",r Klur-v: and over lhe I fix yi'ar is the solemn cruci- f J;wC'th ""' vv,(Jf spread arms of the f Invo ' ''r')('lM!ming ceaselessly His I "i'nn"" "m sll-tossed. wearv souls. I na,,,le Ulit" 'hat crucifix, or that I Child- th(' Sared Heart, or that j Twgtj'" tho '"anger, is evermore re- ' v. iii '3 ' ' u- ,('(me unto Me, and I The v' y"u rt'sl-" I the. 111 "f Hie incense lingers on 1 fl.iwV!'11 lhe fragrance, too. of th- I Mav ,'f lt ;'b)i-n the altars. The i.s,' )a'f'd colors falls on floor ad t H- xh.,, : M'isie floods the place, mu- Pf,nlU'" V" Xh" ( slatic overflow of th-3 i -iatis J d,nuut and inst.dreJ musi- (: tl,P n , S1 ,hat seems to be one of i in i,e ' sWeial joys we are to have j fhurcho ' Bt''on3 all else in our Sapr-n " ;s thp Presence of the Blessed s V!'h uL ;, E"'nianuel, God, with us, V(,rid dilys 111110 ,ne ot tne Woyed i en'us of man is ein- u lo adorn His dwelling-place, but 1 s i also to make glad His children who come to His dear house, His home, lo find their joy and rest. We shall never sufficiently realize the refilling, ennobling, soul-satisfying influence that the church has exerted on the world, in all these ways of music, art. poetry, history, architecture, through all the Christian ages. Yes, and God's church of olden times, the Jewish church, began this work, in its limited way, centuries before; and the psalmist sang and we now echo his words, the praises of the beauty of holiness and the loveliness of the tabernacles tab-ernacles of the. Lord, those tabernacles wherein a man was accounted Llest to dwell, and for which his soul fainted and longed in a place of exile. We read of the illustrious artist. Murillo, that he used to sit for hours in a certain church in Spain, before a picture of the Descent from the Cross, by another artist's hand. The day died, thes hadows fell, the time crime to clos.i the church; some one asked Murillo why he lingered there still, and he made this answer, dreamily: "I am waiting till they have taken our Blessed Lord down from the cross." "Wonderful raply! Hew it fills our own dreaming souls with the wonder as to what that picture could possibly possi-bly have possessed, of power, of reality, real-ity, of pathos, of holiness and of sanctifying sanc-tifying strength, thus to compel so renowned re-nowned an artist's admiration and to subdue his whole being to itself. Yet is not this incident a true type of what is going on, the world over, in the churches of the Catholic faith? Here is fome one absorbed in prayer before a crucifix, another at the crib. What is it all but devotion to the beauty of holiness., and the love' of the Redeemer? What is it but our lavishing the ointment, oint-ment, lige Magdalen, en our Savior's head one crowned with thorns for us, on His feet once way-worn and weary for us, and nailed once to the cruel tree? We do not worship graven images, im-ages, though ignorant men may accuse us of it; but we do love and venerate vener-ate those things that recall to our minds and hearts our true Friend and Lover, and we knowr that these things help to elevate the soul, and to refine it, and to win it closer to Jesus Christ. Sacred Heart Review. |