OCR Text |
Show I V" s 1 1 - "This is the ' 4 ' S J . ' ' , V n j ' victory which I' ' II " ait!1-"' j - - - - - - ........ .....,., ( CHURCH CALENDAR. 7 't Of the Octavo of Epiphany. 1 in Second Sunday for the month The Find- ? Jmu of our Lord with the Doctors in the Tern pic. ! 11 IJ. (iundisalvus, O. P. I 1;.' Of the Octave of tlic Epiphany. I K5 Octave day of the Epiphany, j 1! S. Hillary. Bishop and Doctor of the Church. I i !." Feast of the Most Sacred Name of Jesus. ! ) S. Stephana, O. P., Virgin. i When Mary the Mother Kisssd the 38 ! "When Mary the Mother kirsed the Child And the night on the wintry hillr grew mildi f And the Strange Star swung from the courts of air. 'I'n serve at a manger with kings in prayer, Then did the day of the sinude kin 1 And the unregarded folk begin. I When Mary the Mother forgot the iain, ) In the stable of lock began leva's reign. When that new light on their grave eyes broke i Th. -exert were glad and forgot their yoke; ,.nd the huddled ?heep in the far hill fold birred -in their sleep and felt no cold. ! W'Ufn Mary the Mother gave of her breast I "i" 'he poor inn's latest and lowliest guest, - 'I'ii'' Jo3 born out of thervoman'sFide, 4 Tllf Rab of Heaven by Earth denied, ) Vh''n did the hurt ones cease to moan, A : i 1 the long-supplanted came to their own. hen Mary the Mother Wi faint hands j P..at at her bosom with life's demand.-. , And nought to her were the kneeling kin?, I ! The serving star and the half-seen wings, ; Then was the little of earth made great, And the man came back to the God's estate, i f Charles G. D. Roberts, in "The Book of the nose." Occasions of Sin. ( l The following- passage from a pastoral of the . f li.-hop. of Newport. England, is peculiarly. timely:. ; "There are those,' says the bishop, "who will I not profess the croed of ihe libertine, but will re- : fuse to renounce the frequented ion of places, the. , mpauy of persons and the reading- of books which nre plainly and experiment ly danperous occasions I f sin. Thce occasions occur under pretext, sonie- ! times of amusement and somelimes of friendship, i Tiie following principle may here be laid down: I Jf a ihing is a grievous sin we commit a grievous. 1 sin by exposing ourselves to the, strong temptation ! committing it. There are practically no exeep- ! lions of this rule, for the targe majority of persons. i Xext, a thing that is a grievous sin to do, it is a grievous sin to desire, and oven to dwell upon the I 1 bought. And, finally, no excuse of friendship, relationship re-lationship or company can make a thing not to be I n sin which would be a sin under other eircum- "It is wrong to read hooks and newspapers ' I vhich tend to excite the passions. Xo doubt it is I very difficult, under own modern conditions, to ? i Imnso what to read, and to avoid all that is objec- t lionable. liut a sin is sin in spite of such difKeul- K-lf -restraint anl self -denial to bo practiced. Par-. I ty. Therefore, the effort has to bo made, and IV I ent-s have a most serious duty not to allow books I rrid newspapers indiscriminately in the house. Tradespeople are boi'nd not to sell what is really l ad. Young men anrl women must be deform I to avoid what is corrupting, and must absolutely : give up what they find by experience has led them , ! into ihe sins of thought and desire. .Again, there Jb 1 ivc in every town amusements that arc productive f f t ' fvil. j . "The fact is and.-it cannot be stated too plain- i , iiat ii0 world does not recognize as wrong j rituiy actions, imaginations, desires and situations v.liji-h ih Catholic church teaches to be grieviously f sinful.' Hence it is quite possible that in ordinary rms of amu.-emont such as theatricals, variety v. t litcrtainments, dances and som kind of games ilvre may be grievous harm. The same may be s.-iid of company-seeking with or without a view to marriage. It is well known how strict an older " i:'ncration. was on these matters and with good f reason. It is certain that no pretense of custom, of ::'torod times, of modern ideas, can make' a thing I lawful which is wrong in itself, The Guidon., ? Pius X and the Sacred Heart. This is an extract from the address of Pope I';us, when, .is Cardinal Patriarch of Venice, he j i resided over the Eucharist congress assembled ! ;liero in 1S97: "Is it nor to protest against the ig- noring of his .world-wide royalty, that our Lord i j l.i.uiifested his sacred heart to Blessed Margaret 1 ? Jlary. and that he addressed to her those words so i Mill of hope and neoourageiuci:!, 'I wish to reign, I .-.:id I will reign, in spite of sa-an and all who re- i ' sisi. That word is wonderful, ,nd we must dwell. S ) '"!""! It. For. my part, I trut in it; and by all j I i. fans in my power I shall endeavor to promote, J 1 '''-' what it may, ihe reign of Christ.' From its I I v.-ry origin he approved the general and perpetual 3 i 'ration of ihe blessed sacrament in the churches 3 ;'!!" -wiili yloiitmartre. oreover, he ajipoiuted I J ;; speciul day for such adoration in his archdiocese . ' 1 Venice; and we are told thai he has always been I :i! minted with an ardent zeal to iropagate the j V- r-hip of the Saered Heart. I ?! . In Catholic, Spain. ) What ever may be the shortcomings of'Span- I i:::''ls (and there is no doubt tln:i they are slack in "):!' mailers), they are never vanting when it is i j i 'iii' stion of respect to the blesse d sacrament, and. :j 1 I :' -'H- 'his is the real test of true faith. Let Us !J i -'iM.osejMiiii you are living in a town, and that you fitting in the evening with your family and u or two friends who may have dropped in." Sud-I Sud-I j j ' "ly. through the noie of the traffic in the streets 3 .hi be heard the tinkle of a little bell. Every Span- j ' rd knows what that meai'is. t is the holy viati- t ' ' mi which is being brought to some dving'person. ! 'autly you will see the whole household jump to ; ' ":!' feci; every lighe available, candle or lamp, I ; ' '" whatever it may be. is seized upon and carried ' ihe windows, which are then opened, if 4livy 3 . 1 "' !' not already so. Every one living on the -el does the same, even the servants in the top 3 ' and the result is that in thirty seconds, when " ' " n ach the window and kneel down, you sec that ij ' "oole street is illuminated from end to end, ami 'I very window is crowded with the faithful, who are ? r ''"'ir knees with bowed heads. And thus it is U ' 1 hough i10f a word of warning has loen given, ) '!" blessed sacrament goes through the streets and i ?,, jvcs ;1 triumphant ovation and illumination n'ing the whc?c of its journey. J . . Sh?je For Go-i. I "i In re is a certain part of Cornwall, where tra- "-' i"H says that ships of the Spanish Armada were v:i ked and where the . inhabitants still show f '"'""iigly the marks 'of ihcir soul hern origin. In Z liiis account the author said that an obi fisherman 1,lfl him he eov.ld remember lliat it was the m- Vir!;,l,. eus'om when sharing ihe fish that had I ! n eaught. to put aside one share "for Almighty I , r'!," and that this share all went to the Church I fMl'l to tho j)oor. It is very curious that this 1 1 ""loin should have, been found in a district where f j panish blood is known to have come in. Simi- .tr devotional 'Spjuish customs are known to ex-( ex-( I f 1M M,u .among ihe Irish peasants on the Galway j 'r0afT' were several Spanish "ships vcrc wrecked, I' Lcre there used to be continual intercourse ! ', , ' 1 between the west coast of Ireland and the Spanish ports of Cadiz, Seville and Malaga. Many pretty old customs si ill survive, especially especi-ally in the country districts, and of these I may ifention two or three. On ringing or knocking at a house door, you will frequently hear a voice' from inside asking, "Quien es'-''' ("Who is itf) and the door will not be opened until you have answered "Paz" ("Peace'"); and on entering a house it is very common for the visitor to say, "Ave Maria Purissima,' to which will be answered,' i "Alabado sea el nombre de Dio," or ''Praised be the name of God." When meeting on the high road or speeding a traveler on his departure, it is customary to say, "Vaya Yd. con Dies'' (''May you go with God." or ''May God be with you.'") Francis Fran-cis W. Bernard. THE CONFESSIONAL. D . Lutheran Pleads For Its Establishment and Gives Reasons. - The Reichsbole, the official organ of the Russian Rus-sian government and the mouihpiece of the Lu-iheran Lu-iheran Evangelical synod argitt in no uncertain terms for the confessional: "What our church needs, as much as we need our daily bread, is the revival of private confession. confes-sion. Whoever has a long experience in the care of souls knows that our church is full of people who should go to Confession and also of such who would galdly go. Xot only nun it be said of the murderer and perjurer that s peace deserts him unless un-less he confesses his crime to man, but there are thousands who are persecuted by their past life as by a spectre. They may wt;sh away the dark, spot in their book of life by tears of blood if they will, but their conscience remains sore and their . soils sick; the word of forgiveness is missing, the word of God from human lips, (he promise of God communicated to the person of.-the repenting sin-, per. And why would such people not go to their ordained confessor ? Oh, that would require a certain cer-tain 'moral greatness and a cerlain ariiottnt of humility hu-mility of which hut few are capable. Besides, not every preacher is a grod confessor, nor the best 'confessor a confessor for all. The right thing would be a house where one could retire for a time and where they would be o pastor who, "himself "him-self a holy and sanctified person, woiild understand under-stand the spiritual wants and cares of everv stricken strick-en soul; in whose discretion one could have full and entire confidence and to whose silence one could entrust one's past life as unto a silent tomb. "There is another class of souls heavily bur- i i rr) . l i i- 1 1 1- uenea. nicy struggle against sm, to nuu now cuv they are to combat, and who succumb again and again. Who otakes care of these lambs? They are looking in truth for a pastor; but to resort to their' preacher and confess their wants, to ask him for his helping prayer and intercession they do not- .feel ihe moral courage necessary What they want is a house of retreat and a prudent pastor to whom-' they can "confide their troubles; -who will stand by " tbem with' his counsel in their trying combats. There 'are those, who mourn, and their number is . kgion, who. have none to console them." ' Hew She Threads Her Way. : Catholics," and for that matter many 'Protest- r.nts, do not eat meat on Fridays Catholics from a sense of -reverence for the day .on which the. Saviour suffered so much for us. What motives ,-prompt our evangelical f riends in 'their abstinence from flesh meat is no matter of concern to us. Those children who attend Helen Gould's sewing school, in Tarrytown, X. Y., knew their duty as Catholics, and had simply to abstain from eating the sandwiches offered them, at the recent 'part j, given by the' charitably disposed patroness of the famous school,' which has since been converted into a sort of Biblical kindergarten. Miss Gould has a right, if she wishes, to convert, her sewing school into an academy for higher criticism, but the Tarrytown misses of the Catholic faith will not be free, to attend the course of exegecis and herme-neutics herme-neutics soon to he opened in the classic environment environ-ment of Sleepy Holly. The wealthy patroness of Biblical commentary can now attend to her sewing sew-ing and Scriptural exposition, to her heart's le- . light. As long as "she understands that the Catholic Cath-olic church discouraged the reading of the Scriptures Scrip-tures by the people," let the generous" soul stick J to her thimble and text. Catholic Transcript. , Where Is Your Prayer BookP . .. It would not be safe to argue from the scarcity-of scarcity-of prayer books among many of the . young men .ittending mass that they cannot, read, nor would it be fair to infer from this fact a high degree of illiteracy among the stalwart lads-of the pa r-uh. r-uh. Many of the saints, while attending the holy sacrifice, were wrapt in such' ..'-close communion with God and their hearts were so overflowing; vith divine love that they did not need the aid of prayer books to suggest fit expressions of adoration, ado-ration, but with the innate humility of our young men they would reject such a reason for the dearth of prayer books, if .the pastor were -rash enough ;o ascribe it to them. They need prayer book to cssist them in their devotions, to teach them the tight form of prayers, to avoid distraction and thus help to concentrate their attenlion upon the holy act in which they arc engaged. Pittsburg- Observer. Ob-server. ., THE COMING YEAR. All of the coming year, dear Lord, I offer Thee; The hopes and fears, the joys and pains, It holds for me. Whether it bloom with brightest joys To err wn my life, - ' Whether it bring but pain and woe And endless strife. In sorrows I will try to see. Thy loving hand, With wisdom puidinp me unto A better land. Through its veiled future. Lord, he this My prayer, my plea. That it may bring- me nearer still, Dear Lord, to Thee. Florence Bain Seymour. Your Best-loved Friend. God loves you; love him in return. His. delight is to be with you; let it be yours to be with him, find endeavor, as far as possible, to enjoy in 1 ime that sweet eompionship which will be yours for blessed eternity. Accustom yourself- to speak to him with familiarity and confidence as to a friend; it is a great mistake and a weakness of our shortsighted short-sighted nature not to be at oau iilMiis presence, but to appear before him like timid and shamefaced shame-faced slaves, trembling and longing to escape in order or-der to find freedom and consolation elsewhere. Do .not imagine that it is necessary by a violent effort of.your mind, or in an ecstatic, prayer, to form within you a figure of his adorable person, and that, 'prostrate in adoration before it, you are to forgot .your home duties' and pass .yoor .days, in contem-. iplalinpc and praising: the divinq perfections. Xb; all: that is: required of you is that.withour leaving our work, you! should be as familiar and intimate with God "as you'are with your best-beloved friends, T. Like them, he is near you; speak therefore to him as you are wont to-speak to jhem: confer-with mm concerning your undertakiugs, your business, vour hopes and your fears; do Vote, I have just said, with open-hearted confidence, ancr believe that silence si-lence and reserve on your part arc most displeas- ' iug to him. Father Boutard, S. J. Who Should Pray P The needy. . Those who have exhausted human, strength and ingenuity, or those who realize the weakness of the arm of flesh and anticipate the omnipotence om-nipotence and faithfulness of God. Cod cannot make a man pray. Remove God's promises from your philosophy and you have no reason to hope that he will hear you. You may pray, however. Let us hope that he may hearken. But prayer is not merely spoken in words. Prayer, is the flflame that framed by the winds of adversity bursts from the gray embers of faith; betimes reddened by a zephyr. ze-phyr. Because one drowning cries out for a lifeline life-line or a rescue boat is no -sign that one will7 be in reach. The Christian, may approach the altar with the full assurance of hope, for his authority has said lhat he that abideth in him shall ask what he will with hope of its receptio-i. To whom did he say: "Ask and it shall be given to tee, seek and 'ye shall find, knock and it shall bo opened unto you!" THE SILENT SISTERS. , A Remarkable Community of Sisters in. the Pyre nees Mountains H ho .Never Speak. A writer in the Chicago Record-Herald is struck by the remarkable lives of the silent Sisters of St. Bernard, who dwell on the Pyrenees mountains, and who never break, except to pray,' their life rule of silence. She describes a visit to .their eon-vent eon-vent : ? . Xot many miles from Biarritz, among the. pines' lhat clothe the lowest slopes of the Prenees, is the nunnery of Anglet. the home of one of the most remarkable bodies of women in the world, who have voluntarily deprived themselves of their sex's most cherished privilege, the use of tongue and eyes. To steal away from Biarritz with its gay crowds, whose days are passed in pursuit of pleasure,. to this home' of silence at the foot of the equally silent hills, .is to touch within a few; hours the two ex-.tremes ex-.tremes of human life, and the contrasted picture to .'those-who have seen it is one that lingers inefface-ably inefface-ably in the memory. One might think that such a place as this retreat re-treat of, the Sisters of St. Bernard would be jealously jeal-ously guarded from the world of curious observers; but it is not so. The only condition imposed on visitors is the notice that greets them at the entrance en-trance to the nunnery grounds a request to speak in a low voice. The first glimpse that the writer got of the mysterious occupants of this retreat was when he was conducted into the garden, surrounded sur-rounded on three sides by plain, one-storieil buildings, build-ings, and on the fourth by the convent chapel. ; Scattered over this square garden were about thirty women, robed in loose-fitting white garments, I with the sabots of the peasant on their feet, and I black hoods coiieenling- their faces, and bearing a Jarge white cross wnere tney noweu uown tuo nac. A few were pacing up and down the paths bowed i in deep meditation, but the, 'majority -were busy with spade and rake, working on the soil. Most remarkable of all-;althpugh ihese women must have been aware that a Granger was gazing at them, not a single movement of the head, much less a glance, showed the slightest consciousness of the fact. While I -was taking in this strange spectacle my cicerone told me, in a whisper, how the 'convent, was founded sixty-four years ago by the Abbe Gestae Ges-tae a priest of Barpnno, famed for his' asceticism and' piety; and now the nuns, many of. whom entered en-tered as young and beautiful girls, are pledged to lifelong' solitude and silence, holding no communication communi-cation whatever even, with , each' other, although ..constantly thrown together . if t, meals, work. a"ud at ' ' religious exercises. , - ' ' So complete is this isolation that the Sisters of St. Bernard are always cut off by curtains from the neighboring Sisters of St. Mary, who occasionally occa-sionally worship in the same chapel; and stories are told of women who in the other world had been close friends and near relatives living for years together in the convent without even knowing of ' each other's presence.; ' ' " This state of things is rendered more bearable by the constant work that occupies every hour of the day. Except at meals or devotions each nun must never spend an idle moment. They, arc famed for the beauty of their needlework", and many "of 'the most lovely trousseaux in; Europe are wrought by the hands of these silent women. The refectory in which they take. their meals, and which I was permitted 1o see. is a long, thatched building, with whitewashed walls and an earthen floor, and its furniture consists of a wooden table and benches. Dry, bread,, vegetables and water in an earthenware jug constitute each day's menu, with the exception of a small quantity of meat on alternate days. This refectory and. many of the1 original convent buildings, it is interesting to record, re-cord, were built by the nuns themselves, who can 'thatch a roof, drive a plow or do an exquisite piece of embroidery with equal skill. ... Devotion naturally enters largely into ihe lives of these. Sisters of St. Bernard. Every hour, as the clock strikes, thev cease whatever work they are engaged on and, dropping on their knees, spend a few minutes in prayer, and much time is spent in religious services in the chapel, with its beautiful image of "Our Ladv of . Sorrows," of which a romantic ro-mantic story is' told, or in prayer at the shrine of "Our Lady of Pity" in the garden. To each nun is allotted one of two rows of tiny, narrow, whitewashed cells, containing only a har-d, rough bed and a wooden chair, and opening intO:a long, dreary corridor, which is the only drawijig and reception room Ihe convent boasts; and so Spartan Spar-tan is these Sisters that in the coldest weather a fire is unknown. r ' ' . . - v ' " : l. : : . |