Friends at Court

New Zealand Tablet, 21 December 1911, Page 2563

Friends at Court

»■■"- GLEANINGS FOR NEXT WEEK'S CALENDAR Tijp. 24, Sunday. —Fourth Sunday in Advent. -j, 25, Monday. —The Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ. ~ 26, Tuesday.—St. Stephen, First Martyr. „ 27, Wednesday.—St. John, Apostle. ~ 28, Thursday. The Holy Innocents. ~ 29, Friday. —St. Thomas, Bishop and Martyr. „ 30,-.Saturday.—St. Elizabeth of Hungary, Widow. The Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ. To-day the Church rejoices over the birthday of her Divine Founderthe Redeemer of mankind. The time appointed for the entrance of the Son of God into the world having arrived, Mary and Joseph were led by Divine Providence into Bethlehem. Failing to obtain admittance into the inns, they were compelled to take refuge in a grotto which served as a shelter for cattle. There Our Blessed Saviour was born to a life of poverty, humiliation, and suffering. He came to redeem the world, and to draw to Himself the affections of men, and, therefore, He presented Himself in the most amiable form that can be imagined—that of an innocent, helpless babe. St. Stephen, First Martyr. St. Stephen was one of the seven who were chosen to assist the Apostles in the daily distribution of alms, and who, by the imposition of the Apostles' hands, were raised to the Order of Deacons, and qualified to discharge some of the inferior duties of the sacerdotal office. By his zealous efforts for the propagation of the Gospel, he stirred up the hatred of some of the Jews, who stoned him to death. He thus had the honor of being the first among Christ's disciples to seal his faith with his blood. GRAINS OF GOLD THE INFANT KING. They leave the land of gems and gold, The shining portals of the East; For Him, the Woman's Seed foretold, They leave the revel and the feast. To earth their sceptres they have cast, And crowns by kings ancestral worn ; They track the lonely Syrian waste, They kneel before the Babe newborn. O happy eyes, that saw Him' first; 0 happy lips, that kissed his feet ; Earth slakes at last her ancient thirst With Eden's joy her pulses beat. True kings are those who thus forsake Their kingdoms for the eternal King ; Serpent, her foot is on thy neck ; » Herod, thou writh'st, but canst not sting. . , He, He is King, and He alone, r Who lifts that infant hand to bless ; Who makes His Mother's knee His throne, Yet rules the starry wilderness. Aubrey de Vere. Christmas is the sweetest festival of the year, one of the two that all Christendom unites in keeping. The festival of the Resurrection— is the other—is the festival of a redemption into another life. Christmas is the festival of renewal of this life, the feast of the Child Redeemer. The Incarnation and Nativity of Christ show forth the glory of His Father Who is in Heaven. The Son of God came down into a sinful world to manifest to men the attributes of the Father, and, in a special way, to make them realise the marvels of Almighty Power, Wisdom, and Love.