The Sun.
London, England, 1866-02-14 00:00:00

senses. The prophet says, " Mors intrat per
fenestras" " Death is come up through our
windows." Busy minds are preoccupied with
good. " The Prince of this world cometh and
hath nothing in them." If the hours which are
srpent in personal talk, or poring over pernicious
books, or in mere emptiness of mind, or innocent
but useless society, were spent in working for charity,
you would be sevenfold happier, and nearer to the
presence of God.
Again, this would make your time fruitful. In-
stead of wasting away, and leaving behind nothing
but emptiness or bitterness, your hours would bear
a lasting fruit. A multitude of poor would bless
you ; numberless little ones, whom you may never
see, would be praying for you ; and there would be
written a record before the Angels of God in your
behalf. Your days would be the seedtime of a plen-
teous harvest, and not a seed would be lost by the
wayside—not a moment spent for the love of God
would be fruitless.

Once more, it would sanctify your time. To
work for our Divine Lord is to do Him a personal
service. Martha ministered to Him. The apostle
says, " Whether you eat or drink, or whatsoever
else ye do, do all to the glory of God." The con-
sciousness of this personal relation elevates our com-
mon life. The least act done for this great motive
is in His sight of great price. In this way all our
every-day life may be changed into acts of faith
and love to Him. If we renew the intention every
morning it will virtually pervade the whole day.
And, from time to time, one inward act or inspira-
tion, or glance upward to the Heavenly Court, will
renew its purity and sweetness.
_ _

Moreover, to give your time for these works of
charity would be a reparation for the time that is
past. There is no one, it is to be feared, who has
not squandered hours, which would make up years,
sometimes in idleness, sometimes in less innocent
waste of God's good gifts. Begin then now to re-
deem what remains. Let your life from henceforth
—your last years it may be—bear a better fruit to
God. Happy they who begin at the third hour;
happy they who begin even at the eleventh ; for the
evening is coming on, and the reward is sure. Hope-
less only those who stand all the day idle, " till the
night cometh in which no work can be done."
We therefore call on you to give your names to
your Pastors, who will make them known to us ;
and we trust hereafter to form them into a general
and permanent organisation for promoting both
work for charity and the sale of the work which has
been made : of which full details shall be given to
you in due time.
111. Lastly, the precept of Prayer is one of the
tokens of the love of God. He has no need of our
prayers, nor that we should tell Him what we need ;
but He has bestowed upon us the unspeakable gift
of access to His presence, and of permitting us to
speak with Him face to face. We may converse
with Him as He permitted Abraham, with whom
God " spoke as a man to his friend." To speak
with God elevates, sanctifies, and ennobles the soul.
A life of prayer assimilates the soul to God; and
they who live in prayer are perceptibly different
from others. In this is the unspeakable gift of the
Incarnation, whereby God has entered within the
sphere of our intelligence and affections, and has
willed that His Incarnate presence should be al-
ways with us in the Blessed Sacrament of the
Altar. If the season of Lent brings us the auste-
rity of fasting, it brings also the inexhaustible con-
solation of the perpetual exposition and adoration
of the Blessed Sacrament, kept up, in succession,
day and night, throughout the Churches of the
Diocese. We need not exhort you to make full use
of this great gift. Your own faith and love make
words from us unnecessary. But there are great
causes why in this Lent we should be more instant
and earnest in prayer. Signs of evil are everywhere.
The words spoken on the first day of this year by
the Sovereign Pontiff warn us of the perils which
hover about his sacred presence. No two nations
in the world are in amity. Between almost all a
secret and intense animosity exists. Mutual resent-
ments and defiance keeps old wounds open. Sedi-
tion is undermining every people. Tito modern
spirit of Nationality is bearing its own fruit. It
has been used as a lever to wrench fragments from