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Show . .f CDurcb Universal - ; I Church Calendar. j V'. Sunday, lirst of Lent. E. II Cor. I v, .Vrf ;. St. Matt, iv, 1-12 St. Greg- ." lirv ih- 5rfat. i ; j.:. Monday, ' .St. Euohrasia. li Tuesday. St. Mathilda, I i:,. Wednesday, Ember day. Thursday, St. Abraham. ;. Kriday, Lance and Nulla, iv. Saturday, Ember day St. Ga- 1 ; J A SILENT SERMON. I In a Catholic Church Everything That Greets the Eye is Preaching j The Scriptural Message. 1 vi-nm the Sacred Heart Review.) TIi'' jTodisious use constantly made C' "oly Scripture by the Catholic ; ti:i . !) is a salient fact which in its -; :i ss f.-w persons comprehend, even t m..::- those within her fold. It-is like j .vt Iandseapo which lies before us lrauty day by day yet ever un-1-hi" 1 beauties from an apparently , v: iii.-ik ss More. It verv vain to at-1 at-1 M-i-t in one bri'-f. article a complete V :!.iyal of this fascinating- subject i',. . hutvh's use of and reverent love 5 .,: Inspired Word of God. A few ;:.-!. iii'-e.s must now suffice. I.. ! a man enter one of our churches :. iiiy hour what does he see? Along i:- '. alls runs ihe pathetic story, in 1 .: .' d representation, of his Savior's t :.-': rii.es endured for him. There he i -I... l.ls the condemnation pronounced i t- I'd tte. the cruel scourging endured I 1 ,! sus, the thorn-crowning, the nail-j nail-j v l" the cross, the dying on that hard If -1 'f pain, the taking down from the ,;..s, 1 lie -burial in the garden tomb. V. iii- sanctuary he finds statues of f Mir Lord's dear Mother and His faith-foster-father. If it is Christmas 1 ):' he linds there, too, the pretty rep-; rep-; . s. nation of the crib, the infant Jems, Je-ms, the ox and ass, the shepherds, the vise men. the star. Over the altar is the crucifix, always. Everything he has t 11 is preaching silently, to the peo-j,'- ho throng those churches as their t;.- ial home and abiding place from t hiMhood to old age the Scriptural ri'ssage. St. John iii, 16: "For God s . loved the world as to give His only 1 gotten Son: that whosoever believeth ii, Hi m may not perish, but may have i life e ei-lasting." 1st us enter one of our Catholic city jhuiches to watnh what is going on. Jii the early morning mass is said; the worshipers gather, few or many as the lase may be. They have come to as-l as-l si?i at that tremendous sacrifice of 'hich Malachias (i, 11), foretold in 3io!y Writ: "In every place there is f sacrifice, and t'iKre is offered to my 2 -a me a clean oblation." But when all ? "services"- are done, is the church closed, locked, unvisited, till another "service" begins ? By no means. Peo- . i ! linger, thougn the outward sight" I ' i "thing is goiitfx on." I Keep up your watch through all the ! f Ifug hours of the day. A child comes ; Jn. and making its toddling way to the rib. studies the story of Bethlehem silently with wo.idring eyes. An old r.ian i-omes in and kneels long at the ; i.'tar: an aged woman tells her beads; ! young girl makes the. way of the '-oss; a boy doffs his cap, bends his 3 nee and says something no .one hears to God a noisy, laughing, active boy, subdued for the moment into absolute ; rilence. then off li'te a dart to game and V st and work. laboring man leaves ' his dinner-pail at the door to pray; i lose to the altar rail some one in deep ; Mourning is- soboing softly; Sisters i" nine gently in. each one with her own prayer, her own need. What does it I 'l mean? ; . H means si 'hat the real pres- ! of Jesus .r altar. It mean's f-imply the C'.'l', church's constant T-p..tition to 1' e ip'e of the words her Lord. tie i ned by her in Holy N-ripture: "Tins if my body. This is f my blood. Behold 1 am with you all ;.iys. even to the eoisummation of the ; world." ' However poor and sad our dwellings. 1:..uA-er noisy and troubled our sur-lounding.x, sur-lounding.x, we have one peaceful, holy home where we may go unquestioned, ami its doovds stand ever open; we 3. vp onf place where peace is perfecet ; ftii.i where one friend waits for is al- ' : vas to hear our prayer. ' i ur shopgii ls, f ur accountants, our j f--i:oo children, our old people, may not :.l'i-ay he abie lo tell you just how Tnany liooks there are in the Old Tes- taiM-nt. or how may epistles in the j X u Testame.it: but they do know that i ihcji- c-hurch oens her motherly arms "ide to them, and how she tells them ; v That the l,ord they love, sind of whom' ; . S.riptures are full, is "in this Th discretion of the Catholic church '-; a marvelous factor in her marvel- is makeup. She does not insist on her ; r"i lo knowing the Bible from cover to -ov.-r. She perfectly agrees with St. I V' : r. in his- second epistle, iii. 16. that iVro arc- in the inspired writings, as .- v one might easily surmise there 5 -""'Jld be. "certain things hard to be i rsioo,;. which the unlearned and v '-lai.lo -wr'st 'to their own destruc- ; i With ih-' awed reverence that i C 1:. .li.-s tieat the house of God they : o mat the wcrd of God, for there '. in either of them an indwelling ( f ' it befi.r' whom the wise, strong an- j ..is ,-; iheir faces with their wings. ? T; :h-- Jesus the redeemer, of whom t-. s. riptures plainly tell, him the j 1 church Keeps evtr before her I : i -n s eyes in their thoughts; : ; that is one nason why her houses j ..!.-ii:p are ihronged on Sunday i an- not left alone and unvisited ! k days, because the Lord of the I ; M.iar s s always in his holy place. i THREE GOOD PRAYERS. ' -as Coventry' Patniore who said., ! ' ; : whimsical way: "Not one good j : ! has heen composed by. Catholic i ''-u -slant since the days of the ! ination The manuals'! -otion'compiled since the Council; i 1 Tient. by authority or otherwise, j I ; .oiiKh to drive a sensible Chris-: i ' i..zy by their extravagance and ', .'ity." This is wild opinion, to be i '; th'ouch there is a grain of sober i in it. All the prayers in the I U : -al and Breviary, a great many of : :i were composed after the Re- : i ition. are good prayers in the j I in which the poet expressed him- I -.r-being normal, practical and cor- S t as to literary foi m. 'H,..- other statement regarding man- ' of devition is likewise too sweep- Wiiat better prayer book could ! unagined that the one compiled by i ' '' lute Marquess of Bute for the use " !.is fellew-Catholics unable to heat '--s upon Sundays and holidays? The 1 ' :..v.-is are all taken from the Roman I ' : viary, except two out of which is in the Roman Missal, the other "Mi the Aberdeen Breviary. "A Form I 'f Prayers" is a devotional work Ml i h no user would consent to part ' vith. Coven trj Patmore was not easy- i To piease, but he would have lauded 'his manual to the skies had he kiiown of its existence. Then there is 1 Roman Missal adapted to the use "' the laity, with a collection of l'!a yers lor various purposes. There i '' other prayer books like it. Jt must be admitted, howe-er. that " great many of our books of devotion " 'e extravagant and unreal to the last f!f'trree; the prayers which they con's- 1:1 hi, besides being faulty in ?onstruc-I ?onstruc-I S '"on and crude as to language, are. v:ln ;xnd vauid, sometimes even irreverent irre-verent and unorthodox. As one of pur bit-hops once remarked somewhat se-'"ly se-'"ly i.eihaps of certain Ira.ver bouks which had been cent in bin f" examination: "They give one the impression im-pression that the compilers not only never learned their catechism well, but never uttered a heartfelt prayer after learning how to read." The three prayers which follow (Ora-tio, (Ora-tio, Secreta and Postcommunio) have been definitely approved for the mass of the Blessed John Mary Vianney. e are indebted for them to the present pres-ent cure of Ars. Even in a translation these prayers will show the incomparable incompar-able superiority of liturgical forms, and at the same time give the reader an idea of . what Coventry Patmore j ment by a good prayer: "Almighty and merciful God, ' who dist render Blessed John Mary wonderful won-derful by his pastoral zeal and fervent spirit of prayer and penance; grant, we beseech thee, that, through his example ex-ample and intercession, we may be able to w in the souls of our brethren to Christ, and with them gain eternal glory. Through the same, etc." "May the invisible plenitude of the Holy Spirit, Almighty and Eternal God, descend upon this unspotted host; and grant that we. Blessed John Mary Ma-ry interceding, may always approach so august a mystery with pure bodies and clean hearts. Through our Lord, etc." "Refreshed with the food of angels, we implore thee. O Lord, that as the Blessed John Mary, strengthened by this bread, bore adversities with in-J in-J vifccible constancy, so may we, through his merits and by the imitation of his . example, advancing. from virtue to virtue, vir-tue, happily arrive at the mountain of God. Through our Lord." The Ave Maria. THE ABUSE OF HOLY WATER. All Catholics know what holy water is. They have an idea at least that the wajter is blessed with exorcisms and prayer, and that salt, which is also blessed, is mingled with it.. Over the watpr and salt tho nriest prays so that they who use them devoutly de-voutly may be sanctified in body and soul and be preserved from corporal and spiritual dangers. Its origin dates not from yesterday. Back in the cen-turts cen-turts w have to look for its first, appearance. ap-pearance. It has touched the brows of Catholics of all ages. It has been borne with them in their wanderings, and today the devout Catholic keeps it in his home and takes it with him w hen traveling. To the faithful Pope Pius IX granted an indulgence of 100 day", every time that they shall make the Bi'gn of the cross with holy water, pronouncing pro-nouncing at the same time the words, "In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." The most of us know all this, though it must be said we refrain from manifesting mani-festing that knowledge in our actions. It is depressing, for instance, to notice how irreverently holy water is handled by many Catholics. On entering the church they charge toward the font, throw the water over the floor not intentionally in-tentionally we presume and execute a sign of the cross. It has not, of course, the faintest resemblance to a cross, and is to our mind the sign of carelessness and bad manners, daring to flaunt themselves in the very presence of the God of the tabernacle. This may seem to them a matter of little moment, albeit al-beit they of a lively faith who respect each and every practice of the church may think otherwise. They never seem to reflect that the water is set apart as a holy thing for their benefit. We have seen a crowd around a font pushing and giggling and chattering and behaving behav-ing generally as if they were about to enter a theatre and not .God's house-where, house-where, says an old writer, the tempted find a remedy, the distracted counsel, the fainting help, the sound receive support, the sick medicine and the dead by prayer that riseth up from the heart which lives in grace, deliverance from penal fire. The church manners of some of us are sadly in need of repair. It is due to ignorance or carelessness. But the fact ir. that we treat betimes our highest high-est and holiest. "treasures with contempt. con-tempt. Catholic Record. the Approach of Lent. Next Wednesday we enter, as of course you know, on the great and holy season of Lent. The church is generally full on Ash Wednesday, and one would think, on seeing the crowds pressing forward to receive the ashes, that they were all determined to enter into the spirit of the church, and to keep Lent as it should be kept. Yet how many there are who go through this outward form, and make a great deal of it, and yet neglect. all that is signified by it; who give a show indeed of nenance, but bring forth none of its fruits! Some, perhaps, of the Ash Wednesday penitents peni-tents will not be seen again in the church till they come forward again on Good Friday to kiss the cross. Yet it is better to come to church, if only on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, than not at all; better to do some penance and show some -love of God than to neglect these virtues altogether. alto-gether. But how much better still it would be to now thoroughly s understand under-stand and seriously take to heart what God requires of us, especially in this holv time, and to make it the means, as it may be more than anything else, of our final salvation! First, then, to thoroughly understand what we are now to do. Everything muist be well understood before it can be well done, and the keeping of Lent is no exception. to this general' rule. Manv people break the rules of Lent because they do not clearly understand them. ' Lent, then, is not" a time to be spent in penance altogether according to one's own devotion. Far from it; the duties to be performed in it are clearly clear-ly and precisely laid down, and should be attended to very strictly. There are not many; they make no great demand on our time or strength; but the Christian Chris-tian who discharges them properly will make his Lent far better 'than one. would who should neglect them and take other practices, no matter how hard, in their place. It is better to keep the real rules or laws of Lent faithfully than to hear three masses every dav, and come to all. the extra services and give half one's goods to ihe poor, and yet neglect our regular I duties. What, then, are these laws? The first I is the Easter duty, which should be made before Easter, if possible, though the church indulgently extends the time several weeks after that festival. Make then, this great duty, far the greatest of all the duties of a Christian, at once; it will be very easy for all of vou who have just made the mission, to do it now, and the longer you put it ofr the harder it will be. Make it. then.' if possible, the first day it can be made-first made-first Sunday of Lent-and get it, if I may say so. off your mind. Do not fancy that, as you have so lately made the mission, the Easter duty is of little consequence. If 3"ou had made twenty missions during: the past year, and ajiy number of jubilees, the law of the Easter duty would bind you exactly as much as if you had neglected them all. It is like hearing mass on Sunday; nobody no-body is excused at all from mass on Sundav because they have been to it through the week. So this time, the Kreat Sunday of the year, is set apart bv the church for the precept of holy communion: it must-be fulfilled at this time, no matter how often one has received re-ceived outside of it. The second and only other real law or Lent is that relating to fasting and abstinence. If you attend carefully to the rules that have been read, you will understand . tWs well enough But do . 'not ronfu. fasting with b.-e: that is the most common mistake. People Peo-ple often say, "Oh! I have to work hard; ! can eat meat if I like." This is a great error, and a very foolish one. Many are excused from fasting on one meal and a collation; few from abstinence absti-nence on the days appointed. If you want to have a safe conscience in eating eat-ing meat you should consult a confessor, confes-sor, unless seriously ill. Attend to these two things, then, and you will make your Lent as a Christian should. But, of course, you will also try to follow, to the best of your ability, the other devotional practices prac-tices recommended by the church at this time. Go daily to mass, and to the occasional services, and give alms according ac-cording to your means. These prac- j tices, especially now, are of the greatest spiritual profit, and cannot generally be neglected without spiritual danger. But remember that Easter duty and fasting, with abstinence, are the real laws. Obey these, at any rate, and then, so fas as you are able, add others beside. Prayer. Prayer is a sovereign remedy for dejection de-jection of spirits. Is any one sad among you? Let him pray. Prayer is a source of comfort to our hearts. How can we as children approach our Heavenly Father, the Father of mercies mer-cies and the God of all consolation, without feeling a sense of security and confidence! You are not obliged to have a friend to present you at court, for no one knows you better than your Creator. He who fashioned you knows the clay of which you are made. You are not compelled to wait for an audience. Your Heavenly Father never nev-er nods or sleeps. He is never preoccupied pre-occupied or engaged. He is always at home and ready to receive you. The eyes of the Lord are upon the just, and His ears are open to their prayers. You can speak to Him in church and out of church, at home and abroad, by day and by night. And when you enter into the presence pres-ence of the Most High you are not required re-quired to present your petition in choice language and well sounding periods. Those so-called, eloquent prayers, of which we sometimes read in the papers, I fear do not go farther than their authors intended them to reach. They tickle the ears of men, but do not pierce the clouds. The prayer that moves our , Heavenly-Father Heavenly-Father Is that wihch spontaneously flows from the heart, such as the prayer of the publican when he exclaimed: ex-claimed: . "Oh God, be merciful to me, a sinner!" or the prayer of David: "Have Mercy on me,' O God, according to Thy great mercy." Gigantic Power of the Catholic Pulpit A keen observer has stated that perhaps per-haps the most impressive effect of modern mod-ern civilization is the gigantic power the Catholic pulpit could wield if used as a united and continuous instrument of reform. There are 10,000 Catholic pulpits in the United States. It is safe to say that no moral truth or spiritual aspiration aspi-ration could be advanced more quickly quick-ly than through this interlinking system sys-tem of Catholic influences. Those who fear that the intrusion of the church into politics would constitute a menace men-ace are paying unconsciously a tribute to the power of the Catholic pulpit. The church has nothing to do with political po-litical matters, except those involving questions of morality. We are free to state that we wish the Catholic church exerted more influence through the pulpit pul-pit upon the everyday life of the Catholic Cath-olic citizen. If it did. we should be.' all the more ardent in our work for civic righteousness. Civic decency would flourish and a finer moral -tone would prevail in the whole community. Boston Bos-ton Republic. RELIGIOUS INTELLIGENCE. The Catholic, women teachersof .Germany, .Ger-many, to the number of 1,400, met recently re-cently in Berlin. The association is very successful and prosperous. It has in its treasury 201,000 marks to be used for a hospital for infirm teachers; a bureau of information, a bureau of judicial ju-dicial consultations and defense, etc. Last year the federation counted 7,718 provincial societies. Rev. Francis Joyce of Claflin, Kan , has received permission from Right Rev. Bishop Hennessy or vyicnita to enter the army as chaplain. Father Joyce has received assurance from authoritative, au-thoritative, sources that his appointment appoint-ment will be made as soon as the necessary neces-sary papers from the bishop are received re-ceived by the president. He is still a young man, was ordained a few years ago after making his philosophical and theological studies in Rochester seminary, sem-inary, New York, hfs native state. The senate committee on Indian affairs af-fairs has decided not to insert anything in the Indian appropriation bill that . might, conflict with the policy of the j president with respect to the use ofi tribal funds for the use of contract schools, and Senator Bard of California, Califor-nia, having failed before that committee, commit-tee, of which he is a member, in his effort ef-fort to prevent the use of these funds by Catholic or other denominational schools, will carry his fight to the floor of the senate. A stonemason named Johann Lenz, living in Neugrum, near Sandan, in Bohemia, Bo-hemia, has just finished building (on a plot of his own land outside the vilr lage) a church, all done with his own hands, in fulfillment of a vow. From foundation to cross on the steeple everything ev-erything is Lenz's own work. He chiseled the stones and mixed the mortar, mor-tar, fashioned the woodwork, glazed the windows and even cast the bell. It took him ten years, and now the church is regarded wilh peculiar veneration ven-eration and has become the object of several pilgrimages. Mo'.isignor Adalbert Anter, provost and parish priest of Lauban, :n the diocese dio-cese of Breslau, Germany, will celebrate this year the seventieth anniversary of his ordination. When, ten years ago, he celebrated the sixtieth anniversary, the pope made him a prothonotary apostolic and the emperor decorated him. At the age of 'J4 the venerable man is hale, and hearty, and well able to adminu-ter his large parish. Representative Goulden of New York visited the White House last week to urge the president to appoint Father William A. Olmsted a chaplain at one of the soldiers' homes. Father Olmsted Olm-sted was a brigadier general of volunteers volun-teers in the civil war, and made a brilliant bril-liant record at Gettysburg. After the war he studied medicine, practiced his profession thirty years and then, when an old man. studied for the priesthood and took orders. He wishes now- to end his days in the companionship of his old comrades who wear the uniform of the Grand Army of the Republic. The Catholic educational institutions of Oregon have decided to have a joint exhibit at the Lewis and Clark fair. Space has been asked by the management, manage-ment, and promises have been received which warrant the schools in preparing prepar-ing for the exhibit. The following teaching orders will be represented: Christian Brothers, Benedictines, Congregation Con-gregation of the Holy Cross, Sisters of the Holy Name. Dominican Sisters, Benedictine Sisters, Sisters of Mercy, Sisters of the Most Precious Blood, Sisters of, the Immaculate Heart, Sisters Sis-ters of St: Francis. - In an address made at a Lincoln's birthday entertainment by the pupils of Immaculate Conception school. Ger-mantown. Ger-mantown. Pa., the Rev. John W. Moore, C. M... stated that Lincoln was born a , Catholic, but owing, no doubt, to the scarcity of. priests in Illinois, where Lincoln lived, and to his environments.. hA drifted awajr from - the faith of -his I fathers. Father Moo-re stated that Father Fa-ther St. Cyr, an old pioneer priest of Illinois, and who afterward died at the convent of the Sisters of St. Joseph, in Carondelet, St. Louis, Mo., maintained that Lincoln was a Catholic. Father St. Cyr said that he often celebrated mass in Abraham Lincoln's father's house, and that young Abraham Lincoln, Lin-coln, who was a boy then of some 10 or 13 years of age, frequently served his mass. It is learned that before Richard Croker sailed for Europe he called a ' family conference to decide on a suitable suit-able memorial for his son, Frank. Mr. and Mrs. Croker decided to distribute $."i,000 among charitable institutions in the city. Andrew Freedman, a friend of Richard Rich-ard Croker, will attend to the distribution distribu-tion of the fund. St. Vincent de Paul society is given $1,000, and the following follow-ing charities will be benefited by gifts of $500 each: St. Joseph's hospital for consumptives, the Little Sisters of the Poor, the Sisters of Divine Compassion, the Missionary Sisters of Sacred Heart for Poor Italians, the Salvation Army, Mount Sinai hospital, the United He-br. He-br. v charities, and the Rev. Father Thomas J. Ducey's Chapel of Repose. The will of Rev. Father Benjamin F. De Costa, formerly a Protestant Episcopal Epis-copal minister, who died in New York some time ago, has been filed for probate. pro-bate. To William H. De Costa and Elizabeth C. De Costa, children of a brother, the testator leaves $1 and $500, respectively. To his godmother, Fred-erika Fred-erika Benavides, he bequeathes his manuscrips, including his autobiography, autobiogra-phy, which may be publishe'd if she so desires, and $300. From the manuscrips manu-scrips given to his godmother, however, he expects his journal of more than twenty volumes, which he directs shall be deposited in the archives of the New England Historical and Genealogical society of Boston. The residue of the estate he leaves to the Catholic college of Boaton, the income in-come to be applied to the benefit of some needy student in good standing. Rev. Thomas J. Campbell, S. J., is appointed ap-pointed executor. |
