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Show PEACE. (Contributed Intermountain Catholic.) We - sometimes see a face with a strange sereneness; in a crowded car, among the weary, or commonplace, or coldly selfish. Sometimes the countenance counte-nance is naturally a rugged one, but the expression softens it. Again it is a worn face, with marks of sorrow upon it, but the conflict is over and peace has. come. ' Whence this look? Why are these faces beautiful with something some-thing more than loveliness of feature? Whyido they attract and hold our gaze and make us long for that invisible and intangible something which they po's-gess"? po's-gess"? The day has been when we would associate this expression - that comes from solitude, but we eee it now on faceij of those who are bearing their full share of the burdens of the day. I well iemember tS reply a friend once gave m'e. He washe father of a large family and was as full of care as such heads always- are. - He was one who took life hard naturally and sometimes made much of trifles. He had more than his share of illness and disappointment, disap-pointment, yet as he had grown into middle life he had become more serene. se-rene. He talked less of his difficulties, difficul-ties, and his face, that honest index of character, had grown placid. What is the secret? Tasked,' How do you carry i such a serene countenance amid all I your distractions? He hesitated,' then answered, slowly: 'T believe I will tell j you, though I have never spoken of it I to anyone, for such things are net ! easily talked about. I used to waken j very early, just before the daylight. I Ycu know how heavily burdens press i upon one's spirit then. The care for ! the day's ordering, the disappointment ' of the day before, or the loneliness of . bereavement never seem so crushing as : at that darkest hour just before dawn. It used to be a resolute struggle for ' another hour's sleep, or a desperate at-i at-i tempt to forget the burden. But one morning when under the shadow of a great sorrow I wondered how I could i face the day. In my extremity I knelt 1 and said my morning prayers, and on my way to my place of business I made; a little visit to the Blessed Sacrament in a church which I was obliged to pass, and there came such an answer of peace, such a sense of God's presence, that even the shadow grew bright about me. I now stop at the church every morning ere I go to my business, and ask the Sacred Heart to help me. I have often wished that I might have hours instead of minutes. I doubt now if an hour set apart in the midst of the day could do as much for me-as those few minutes alone with God. The actual help I get sometimes astonishes" me. Not that annoyances and mistakes never arise, but difficulties vanish as I come to them. It is possible to have such a habit of trust that the heart can be steady and serene, even in the midst of distractions." The surface troubles come and go Like ripples on the sea; . The deeper depths are out of reach Of all O God, but Thee, . |
