Friends at Court

New Zealand Tablet, 1 December 1921, Page 3

Friends at Court

i GLEANINGS FOR NEXT WEEK'S CALENDAR. December 4, Sunday.—Second Sunday of Advent. ~ it 5 Monday.— the Octave. „ '6, Tuesday*—St. Nicholas, Bishop and Confessor. • „ 7 Wednesday^St. Ambrose, Bishop, Confessor, and Doctor. „ 8, Thursday,—The Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. „ 9, Friday.Of the Octave of the Immaculate Conception. „ 10, Saturday.—Octave of St. Francis Xavier. ■*? ST. NICHOLAS, BISHOP AND CONFESSOR. St. Nicholas, Bishop and Confessor, was born at Patara, a city of Lycia, in Asia Minor. In his youth he made a pilgrimage to Egypt and Palestine, and shortly after his return he became Bishop of Myra, v in Lycia. He was persecuted under Licinius and restored to his See by Constantine the Great. His veneration is widely spread in the East. He is the patron Saint of scholars of Russia. THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION OP THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY. Her Immaculate Conception was the first of the privileges by which the Blessed Virgin was prepared for the dignity of Mother of God. This privilege signifies that Mary never-contracted the stain of original sin; that her soul, in the first moment of its union with her body, was pure and spotless. She was thus excepted from the universal doom in virtue of which every member of the human race enters the'world stained by Adam's sin. This doctrine, so admirably in keeping with what the holiness of Mary's Son required, though expressed more or less explicitly in every age of the Church's history, was not formally defined until the year 1854. «X*X*X~X*X> GRAINS OF GOLD IMMACULATE. "Pure as the snow" we say. Ah, never flake Fell through the air One-tenth as fair As Mary's soul wa's made for Christ's dear sake. "- Virgin Immaculate, The Whitest whiteness of the Alpine snows Beside thy stainless spirit dusky grows. ( "Pure as the stars." Ah! never lovely night Wore in its diadem So pure a gem As that which fills the ages with its light. Virgin Immaculate, The peerless splendors of thy soul by far ' Outshine the glow of Heaven's serenest star. Eleanor C. Donnelly. ,THE HOLY HOUR. The spiritual values of the Holy Hour are countless. • Living in an age of indifference and materialism, the Holy Hour will serve to draw our thoughts from worldly cares and anxieties and set them on that more lasting city where .we.shall dwell in endless adoration of the Most High. In becoming an adorer of Jesus Hostia the faithful Catholic is permitted to be enrolled among Jesus' friends. What greater gift than a friend? But to have God for our friend! Who can fathom this immeasurable prodigality! "You are no more strangers and foreigners; but you are fellow-citizens with the saints, and the domestics of God" (Eph. ii., 19). . » The fruits derived from an hour's communion with Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament are numerous. Just as we cannot be near a fire without feeling its warmth, so when near the altar we receive an increase in faith, hope, charity, and all the graces and gifts which are necessary for our spiritual life. <«X*X~X*X«> REFLECTIONS. % , We know by experience that the silence of the night is - a good counsellor. —St. Hugh. He prays always, who prays at fixed intervals.—St. Augustine.