THE PERPETUAL OBLATION.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume IV, Issue 181, 15 September 1876, Page 13

THE PERPETUAL OBLATION.

Have our young Catholics ever thought that the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is being offered in some part of the world every hour of their lives ? When it is midnight in New York, Mass is beginning in the churches in Italy. Their ancient altars, at which saints have knelt, are lit up with tapers, and the Vicar of Christ and thousands of priests are lifting holy hands to heaven. Think of the hundreds of quiet chapels, Jesus there, And Mary's image meek and fair, And the dim light, with rich and poor, Scattered round the chapel flour, With the tinkling be ids they tell. And whispeis seaicily audible. A little later and the bells of a thousand towers in France begin to sprinkle the air with holy sounds, and in every city, town and hamlet the Divine Host is uplifted amid the radiance of lamps and the incense of flowers, to stay the anger of God from the land of His choicest favors, and kneeling crowds adore his chastening hand, and pray for sinners who despise His ordinances. Chivalric and religious Spain catches the echoes, and, when I it was one, in New York offers the great Sacrifice in countless [ splendid churches. I And then Catholic Ireland, the island of Saints, which has ! suffered so many centuries for the faith, rallies anew round the I altars it would never forsake. At 2 o'clock and after, the priests of the island of the Atlantic — perhaps Cape Verde — white-robed and stoled, and wearing the i great cross on thier shoulders, bend before the tabernacle. An hour later, a courageous missionary lifts up the chalice of salvation on the ice-bound coast of Greenland. At half -past 4 the sacred lamps twinkle through the fogs of ' Newfoundland; and at 5, Nova Scotia's industrious population > begins the day by attending Mass. i And now all the Canadian churches and chapels grow radiant as the faithful people, the inhabitants of the country, the devout citizen, the consecrated nun, and the innocent child hasten to unite their prayers around the sanctuary where the priest is awaiting them. At 6, how many souls are flocking to the churches in New York, eager to begin their day of labour with the holiest act of religion. Many young people, too, gather round the altar then, or at a later hour, like the fresh flowers which open with the morning, and offer their dewy fragrance to Heaven. An hour later the bells of Missouri and Louisiana are ringing ; | and at 8, Mexico, true to the faith, bends before its glittering altars. At 9, the devout tribes of Oregon follow their loved blackgown ♦^ their gay chapels, and California for a while loosens its grasp on ■, T^s gold to think of the treasures that rust doth not corrupt. And when the Angelus bell is ringing at noon in New York, the unbloody sacrifice is being offered in the islands of the Pacific, •where there arc generous souls laboring for our dear Lord. And so the bells go ringing on, on, over the waters, and one taper after another lights up, as one soul after another catches the light of faith, making glad all the isles of the sea. At 2, the zealous missioners of Australia are murmuring with haste, eager for the coming of our Lord, Introibo ad altare Dei. And all the spicy islands of the East catch up the same sweet sound, one after another, till, at 4 in the afternoon, China proves there are many souls who are worthy ot the name of Celestial by their rapt devotion at the early rite. Then in Thibet there is many a modest chapel where the missionary distributes the Bread of Life to a crowd of hungry souls. At 6, the altars of Hindoostan, where St. Fi-ancis Xavier ministered, are arrayed with their fl( >wcrs and lamps and sacred vessels, and unwearied priests are hastening to fortify their souls before Him who is their Liie and Strength. At 0, in Siberia, where many a poor Catholic exile from Poland has no other solace for his woes but the foot of the altar and the Bread of Heaven. God help him ! During the hours New York is gay with parties and balls and

theatrical amusements, the holiest of rites is going on in the Indian Ocean and among the sable tribes of Africa, whose souls are so dear to the Saviour, who once died for all, and who is now daily offered by all. At 11, in Jerusalem, the holy city over whioh Jesus wept, where He wrought so many miracles, where He suffered and offered Himself a sacrifice for the whole world. When midnight sounds again in New York, the silver bells are tinkling again in every chancel in Rome, And so it goes on ; the Divine Host is constantly rising, like the sun in its course around the earth. Thus are fulfilled the words of the prophet Malachi ; " From the rising of the sun even to the going down thereof, my name is great among the Gentiles; and in every place there is a sacrifice, and there is offered to my name a clean oblation, for my name is great among the Gentiles, saith the Lord of Hosts." Every hour we can and should unite ourselves to the Masses going on in some part of the world, thus adding new brightness to G-od's glory, atoning for the neglect of others, and promoting our I own sanctification. — ' The Young Catholic. 5