The Family Circle

New Zealand Tablet, Volume L, Issue 21, 31 May 1923, Page 53

The Family Circle

OUR HEROES.

Here’s a hand to the boy who lias com age To do what he knows to be right. When he falls in the way of temptation He has a hard battle to fight. Who strives against self and his comrades Will find a most powerful foe;

All honor to him if he conquers, A cheer for the boy who says “No!”

There’s many a battle fought daily The world knows nothing about;

There’s many a brave little soldier Whose strength puts a legion to rout. And ho who fights single-handed

Is more of a hero, I say, Than he who leads soldiers to battle And conquers arms in the fray. Be steadfast, my boy, when you’re tempted To do what you know is not right; Stand firm by the colors of manhood, And you’ll overcome in the fight. “The right” be your battle cry ever In waging the warfare of life; And God, who knows who are the heroes, Will give you the strength for the strife. —Ebex E. Re./’FOUT).

THE HOUSE OF GOD. The most important part of the church is the sanctuary. Here is found the high altar, and here the most solemn functions of worship are performed. In the sanctuary are seats for those who minister at the altar. In cathedral the throne or seat (cathedra) of the presiding bishop is placed at the left or Gospel side of the sanctuary. Hence the name, cathedral church. The ideal location of the sanctuary is toward the east, with the Gospel side toward the north. As the sun rises in the east, so did salvation and truth come to use from the east; while the north is considered the abode of the powers of darkness, which the truth of the Gospel is to dispel. In most of our churches the choir is a gallery at the rear end of the church, where the singers have their place. But m many churches, especially cathedrals and convent churches, there is a space in or adjoining ±he sanctuary where the clergy and the religious assemble to recite the divine office or to assist at divine services. In many churches, especially of Europe, a similar location is reserved lor the choir of singers. Adjoining the sanctuary is also the sacristy or vestry, consisting of one or several rooms. Here the sacied vestments and vessels are kept, as well as all other articles used at the divine ceremonies. In these rooms the priest and altar boys vest. There is in the sacristy, or about the high altar, a receptacle called the snennimn or piscina, into which the ablutions are poured, that is, the water m which the sacred linens have been washed. .The portico, or porch, and vestibule are at the entrance of the church. The initial ceremonies of baptism, and other ceremonies, such as the blessing of the fire on Holy Saturday, are performed here unless circumstances demand otherwise. The nave is that part of the church which is filled by the faithful, more especially that part of the main body of the church which is beneath the clerestory. Tho Communion

rail separates the sanctuary from the nave. The essential part of the altar is the table upon which the Holy Mass is offered. The baldachino, as well as the more or less ornate superstructure, are not the altar proper. The altar proper must be of stone, or at least, the table of the altar must be furnished with a stone large enough to contain a Host and the greater part of the chalice. The altar or altar stone must he consecrated by the bishop. Every altar stone hears upon its upper surface five crosses —one in each corner and one in the centrein memory of the five wounds of Our Lord; and a cavity, sealed with cement, in which are enclosed the relics of saints. There is also the fixed altar, which consists of a large stone slab • resting upon a foundation which is either entirely of stone

or has stone walls’ or columns, foundation and table-slab being consecrated as one piece. The other altar is the portable altar or altar stone, an unattached, and usually small slab, consecrated by itself. TAUGHT BY THE SACRED HEART. On the .subject of devotion to the Sacred Heart Cardinal Manning wrote: “If you love the Blessed Sacrament, the Blessed Sacrament by Its own light will teach you to know and love the Sacred Heart; and the Sacred Heart will open Itself, and will teach us to know Its own character. We shall know all Its love—the love which is from eternity to eternity, the love ineffable, Divine fervor, of unspeakable human tenderness; the Love that died for us. We shall know, too, the. commandment of that Love when' He was about to die for us. And we shall learn not only His love, but also His patience; for He abides in the midst of us. Sinners as wo are —He still dwells in the midst of us in His humility, veiled, out of sight, slighted, and disbelieved, passed without a. sign of recognition by the multitudes that go by Him. There He is, in His generosity, giving away grace after grace. We become bankrupt through our own fault and sin; we go back,to Him; He restores to us the grace that we have lost; more than this, He pours down upon us even more grace than we have wasted; for His generosity is inexhaustible. He does not ‘ break the bruised reed ’ nor quench the smoking flax.’ He waits for you. He has waited for you from childhood and in your youth and in your manhood; in all your wanderings He has been waiting for you still, trying to draw you towards Him, that some day, at last, you may come to true, repentance, and that some day before you die you may be His disciple. And in all this I see what I may call His unsuspiciousness. Friends suspect one another, they form rash judgments of one another, they are always harboring hard thoughts of each other they draw to themselves pictures and characters of

other men, and seldom in- their favor. How' does the Sacred Heart deal with us? He knows everything that is in us, and yet He speaks to us with the same unchangeable love and the same unalterable patience as if wo were within altogether what we show ourselves without. What a perfect love, then, is this Divine and human love of our Master!

“But ig we love Him, we must bear fruits that are like Him. ‘ The fruit of the Spirit is charity, joy, pence (Gal. v. 22). These arc the fruits of the Sacred Heart. The Jleart He bears to us Ave must bear to our neighbors. Our whole mind must be to our neighbor what His mind is to us. And to this we must add a love of the cross, for that was the crowning perfection of the Sacred Heart. It is not easy to love contradictions, slights, sorrows, anxieties, failures, vexations. We who murmur and repine and strive and fret all the day long, if anything goes wwong, call ourselves disciples of the Sacred Heart, and yet we have not as much as the will to bear the cross, much less to love it. We must learn to be forgiving, to be patient, to be severe against the least sin, not in others must bear with them in charity, hoping for their salvation —but in ourselves. Be as sharp as you will with yourselves, and do not bear with the least in your own temper; give no impunity to yourselves or to your ow T n faults. These are the tokens of the true disciples of the Sacred Heart.”

<X^X><X>A<h> THE PRESENCE. I love Thee harbored in my heart, • O Christ, for as I do my part Through rushing, driving hours of toil, — While many hotly, blindly moil, — My soul can sweetly feel within A saving Peace amid the din: When I have Thee, the dearest Guest, Tn Whom alone are peace and rest. Swift fly the hours by work possessed, When I have Thee; with vision blest T see that memory forgets, It is not will nor heart that lets The knowledge of Thy presence end. Although absorbed my body bend And Martha play, I know my soul With silent Mary finds her goal. —D. C. McG., in the Missionary.

A NARROW SQUEAK. A man in a trap was run down at a level crossing, and the old signalman in charge had to appear in court. After a gruelling cross-examination he was still unshaken. He said he. had waved his lantern frantically, but in vain. The following day the superintendent of the line called him into his office. “You did wonderfully well yesterday, Tom,’’ he said. “I was afraid at first that you might waver.’’ “No, sir,’’ replied Tom, “but 1 was afraid that old lawyer was going to ask me whether my lantern was lit!” WHO STOLE THE PIG? His Worship: “What we want you to tell us is the exact words used by the prisoner when he spoke to you. Witness: “He said, your worship, that he stole the pig.” His Worship; “No, no; he would not have used the third person.” Witness; “But you worship, there was no third person.” His Worship; “Then he must have said, ‘ I stole the pig.’ ” Witness; “Well, maybe you did, your worship, but he did not tell on you.’’ GOOD FOR TRADE. Applicant: “I’m an experienced barber, and T should like a job in your shop.” Barber; “You? You’d never do with that bald head. A customer would laugh if you asked him to buy a bottle of our celebrated magic hair restorer.” Applicant; “Yes, but I’d he the man who used the hair restorer that Jones sells in the shop round the corner.” Barber: “I never thought of that; you can start.” WWW SMILE-RAISERS. Maid: “Please, mum, may I pop over to the toy shop and get a skipping-rope?” Mistress; “Whatever do you want a skipping-rope for?”’ Maid; “I’ve just took me medicine, and forgot ter shake the bottle!” *7 Tommy; “Talking of riddles, uncle, do you know the difference between an apple and an elephant?” Uncle (benignly): “'No, my boy, I don’t.” • Tommy; “You’d be a smart chap to send out to buy apples, wouldn’t you <7 Lecturer (in a small town): “Of course, you all know what the inside of a corpuscle is like.” Chairman of Meeting (interrupting): “Most of us do, but you’d better explain it for the benefit of them as has never been inside one.” , «7 Edith; “When it comes to marrying, I wouldn’t give a thought to how much a man was making.” Maud: “Neither would I, dear. What would interest me most would be how much he had already made. It’s foolish to take chances.” sjt Bobby had written “Hie hooks is on the table.” “Stupid!” remonstrated the teacher; “where is your grammar?” “She’s at ’ome with grandad. I think,” replied the child.