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Show PLEA FOR MORE FREQUENT "VISITS." How many times a day do we pass by the church or perhaps very close to it? asks an exchange. Every time we do, or even once in a while, do we step in to pay our respects to its lonely Occupant ? I am afraid not, judging from the deserted conditions condi-tions of our churches almost any time you go in to them. How many hours of the day pass that our dear Lord, a prisoner, of love for our. sake, does -not receive a visit from one soul? Waiting and watching, night and day, begging us to come and tell Him our troubles, to give Him our greeting, greet-ing, to receive His blessing; by a few minutes of our time to show that we have not forgotten Him whose. Kingdom is not of this world. I must step in and see such a person, she (or he as the. case may be) is all alone and it must be lonesome. lone-some. Do we ever hear anyone say this about our " dear Lord, or do their actions indicate that such are their thoughts ? I am afraid not. We have time to shop and gossip with almost every one we meet, on almost every known subject under the sun ; yes, we can even find time to sin, and yet out of a day of twenty-four hours, even out of a week (with the exception of Sunday) we have no time to step into the church and ask Jesus to bless us. There is nothing that should appeal more to Catholics than the lonely Saviour who is ever present pres-ent on our altars. The King of kings deserted by all. To think that we whom He has blessed, in countless ways, should so desert Him; in fact, I am afraid some of us begrudge Him the time it takes to hear mass on Sunday, as we do not get there on time, and are out before it is over. How this must hurt that tender Heart. We expect so much and give so little. Just a few minutes, but we will never know, until we appear before our Judge, what blessings we have received and stored up for ourselves during those visits to the Blessed Sacrament. If Christ has said that even a cup of cold water given in His name will not go unrewarded, with what loving remembrance will He not consider our visits to Him when deserted by all others. Now the next time you are near a church, do not pass it by, but step in for a few moments, and I canassur e you from experience, that no matter how bad you may have felt either in body or mind before, you will feel a lightness of heart, a joyful peace, which you can receive nowhere, else, to say nothing of the blessing received from the Creator of heaven and earth, and the joy afforded the lonely Sentinel of the Sanctuary. Catholic Sun. |