Friends at Court

New Zealand Tablet, 6 March 1919, Page 3

Friends at Court

GLEANINGS FOR NEXT WEEK’S CALENDAR March 9, Sunday. Sunday in Lent. y , 10, Monday. —Feast of the Forty Martyrs. ~ 11, Tuesday.-—Of the Feria. ~ 12, Wednesday.— St. Gregory, Bishop, Confessor and Doctor. Ember Day. ~ 13, Thursday. —Of the Feria. ~ 14, Friday. —Of the Feria. Ember Day. ~ 15, Saturday,Of the Feria. Ember Day. No Abstinence. Feast of the Forty Martyrs. The Forty Martyrs were a party of soldiers who suffered a cruel death for their faith, near Sebaste, in Lesser Armenia, victims of the persecution of Licinius, who, after the year 316, persecuted the Christians of the East. The earliest account of their martyrdom is given by St. Basil, Bishop of Caesarea (370379) in a homily delivered on the feast of the Holy Martyrs. The feast is consequently more ancient than the episcopate of Basil, whose eulogy on them was pronounced only fifty or sixty years after their martyrdom, which is thus historic beyond a doubt. According to St. Basil, forty soldiers who had openly confessed themselves Christians were condemned by the prefect to be exposed naked upon a frozen pond near Sabaste on a bitterly cold night, that they might freeze to death. Among the confessors, one yielded and, leaving his companions, sought the warm baths near the lake which had been prepared for any who might prove inconstant. One of the guards set to keep watch over the martyrs beheld at this moment a supernatural brilliancy overshadowing them, and at once proclaimed himself a Christian, threw off his garments, and placed himself beside the thirty-nine soldiers of Christ. Thus the number of forty remained complete. GRAINS OP GOLD. —. ■» BEFORE THE TABERNACLE. Here where the footfalls of angels tread lightly Flicker so lonely the light’s ruby rays; In mute adoration the sentient stillness Seems throbbing with melody, pulsing with praise. Here have I sped me, and here have I fled me, Harking my restless heart’s tyrant decree. Thirsting for love as the hart for the fountain. Nowhere I find it, sweet but in Thee. Weary and faint from the stress of life’s battle, Penitent, humbled, I lie at Thy feet. Oh, that I always had cherished Thy friendship! Had I but known. Lord, Thy love is so sweet. Here, at Thy altar I pledge my devotion ; Take back my poor heart, so sin-stained, so cold. Jesus, be friend to me here in my exile, Bring me to Thee when my life’s tale is told. Say often with the holy Apostle, at least in your heart; “Lord, increase my faith, make it purer, more lively, and more perfect.” Mother M. of the Sacred Heart. The just man lives by faith, that is to say, his ardent simple and strong faith is so vivifying that it has become the very life of his soul. Mother M. of the Sacre.d Heart. The religious who lives by faith is so completely and habitually penetrated by it that all the thoughts of her mind, all the movements of her heart, in a word, her whole life, is entirely guided by that spirit of supernatural faith in such a way that she judges things only in its light, and acts only under its influence. Mother M. of the. Sacred Heart.