Friends at Court

New Zealand Tablet, 4 May 1911, Page 795

Friends at Court

GLEANINGS FOR NEXT WEEK'S CALENDAR

May 7, Sunday.—Third Sunday after Pentecost. The Patronage of St. Joseph „ 8, Monday. Apparition of St. Michael, ; Archangel. ~ . 9, Tuesday.—St. Gregory Nazianzen, Bishop, Confessor, and Doctor. ~ 10, Wednesday.—St. Comgall, Abbot. ~ 11, Thursday.— Alexander 1., Pope and Martyr. ~ 12, Friday.—SS. Nereus and Achilleus, Martyrs. „ 13, Saturday.—St. Stanislaus. Bishop and Martyr. St. Comgall, Abbot. ' * St. Comgall was born in the North of Ireland, A.D. 516. He established the great Monastery of Benchor, or Bangor, in the County of Down. This was the largest and most celebrated of all the Irish monasteries, and, under St. Comgall's rule, became a nursery of saints and scholars St. Alexander. 1., Pope and Martyr. St. Alexander was a native of Pome. After a pontificate of nearly ten years, he received the crown of martyrdom in 119. SS. Nereus and Achilleus, Martyrs. ; These holy martyrs. were attached to the service of St. Flavia Domitilla, and were banished with her to tin* island of Pontia by the Emperor Domitian. They w*re beheaded at Terracina in the reign of Trajan. GRAINS OF GOLD AT BENEDICTION. Into the censer's glowing cup •The dust of frankincense I pour. And watch the perfumed smoke leap up To cloud the lighted chancel o'er Ah, King, upon Thy throne of might, I would these grains within the flame Were each a world of golden light A holocaust unto Thy name. Yea, King, but I, Thy servant low Give Thee more joy than worlds impart; Behold the thoughts of love that glow Within the censer of my heart. — Messenger. To preserve their purity, the young should frequent the Sacraments, and above all, Holy Communion. —St. Philip Neri. There is a charity which consists in withholding word:?, in keeping back harsh judgment, in abstaining from speeen, if to speak is to condemn. Such charity hears the tale of slander, but does not repeat it; listens in silence, but forbears comment; then locks the unpleasant secret up in the very depths of the heart. The parents who place the happiness of their daughters' marriages in the 'good matches' they persuade them to make, and in the dress and house appointments which blind their eyes and fill them with pride, generally * live to rue the great mistake they have themselves brought into being. The interior gifts of the soul should be the motive of all marriages, if they are to be firm, blessed, and ha pp.,. Humbly and reverently attempt to trace His guiding hand in the years which we have recently lived. Let us thankfully commemorate the mercies He has vouchsafed to us in times past, the many sins He has not remembered, the many dangers He has averted, the many prayers He has answered, the many mistakes He has corrected, the much light, the abounding comfort which He has fiom time to time given. Cardinal Newman. To act is far easier than to suffer, yet we everv day see the progress of life retarded by the mere repugnance to exertion, and find multitudes repining at the want of that which nothing but idleness hinders them from enjoying. Laziness is commonly asssociated with timidity. Either fear at first paralyses endeavor by infusing despair of success; or the frequent failure of irresolute struggles, and the desire of avoiding labor, impress, by degrees, false terrors on the mind. It is the duty done to-day that sweetens life at its close. To stand at the couch of the dying and see the loved and dear one go hence,'and in the sublimity of your holy faith know and believe that the angel guardian' »vi 11 have a welcome privilege when he conducts the parted soul to its Judge, is every hope and all consolation. But duty done to-day is better than the duty planned for to-morrow. He who delays is not likely to take care of the morrow when it comes.