National Republican., 1873-12-22
ST ALoYsTUs CHURCH

and spyd.r.
ST ALOrSTUS CHURCH,
THE LAST SUNDAY oF ADvENr-SER.
MON by REV. FATHER MAGtlRE.
Yesterday was the fourth Sunday Of Advent.
During The past three weeks the faithful through
out the Catholic world have bocn making prepa.
ration for the proper celebration Of the great
festival Of Christmas, and within that time all
the services OF the Church have looked to the
of that important event.
In 81. Aioysus church, at the late mass yester.
day, the ceremonies were, as usual, deeply i'm
pressiye, and the wcll.trained choir, with Mr..
Harry sherman ut the organ, and Miss Eva
Mills rs the principal sooist, poured forth the
sweetest strains Of melody In anticipation Of the
coming Of the newborn Saviour.
THE SERMON
Rey. Father Mcguire, the eloquent pastor 81
the church, preached n sermon appropriate to the
occasion, selecting for his toNt tie gospel VI the
day from the third chapter VI ST. Luse, verses
] toe.
The reverend father remarked that the Church
Of lod, ever guided by the fpirt Of truth and
watching over the spiritual wants
OF her children-sets apart the successive weeks
Of Advent for the proper rcommemoratlon Of Christ.
mas. During the three past Sundays Of Advent
" God oTSer shS. we might be The beter pne
pared, by purifying our hearts, to receive
THR INNOCENT BABE or BETHLEHEM.
Like ioving mother, she had taught us that n
we could not he attracted by the power OF love,
ment. me % Within Tie past three % weeks she bad led
us INTO the desert with John the Baptist, preach
lag to lrcp1re the way Of the Lord and TO make
straight Ills paths. John preached ponancc In
the wilderness, and the saIpr mlsson was contin.
ucd In the Church today. AZ his especial mission
was TO prepare men for the coming Of Christ, so
the Church now breaches the same truth to every
Christian, for Christ will be spiritually horn in
the heart .f every true Catholic on Christmas
!ay; As lie Jewish people ,S, were adponished =! by
- are VIC Christians Of today urged TO make
preparation Tor the worthy reception Of the Divine
linni.
Aud what was the preaching Of John the Bap.
tist' lie came to preach pcnancc. lie told the
people 10 'lo penancr, for the kingdom VI 6o' was
10 the wilderness, and, awaiting on the bank or
the Jordan tho lona.cxpected Messiah, he
taught the people to prepare FOR his coming by
purifying their hearts, by giving up false Idols,
by turning from
THE FASHIONS AND FoLLIEs oP THB WORLD,
and hNIng their oycs and thoughts on heaven. lie
preached the Truth, and preached Il boldly and
braycly. lie upl'raided the Jews for their wicked.
ncss. and dared to tell the proud. kingiy tyTant
that he was violating the laws Of dos For this
he was cast Into prison. and died for daring to tell
nf dr doing wSa, Shn thSS Bsp I @
ary Of them shall be made 10 pay the forfeit Of
their heads TO crafty The curiosity OF dancing
girls remains to 10 seon. but the truth must c
preached, because we cannot compromise wi Il
error. Hence the teaching ol the church today
was The same that John the Baptist preached on
The banks OF the Jordan more than eighteen kun
drcd years ago.
The object Of Advent was therefore, to
rHErATE yoR THE COMING or CnRIsT.
Were they all better prepared to.day than they
were on the hrst sunday Of Advent He feared
from G"d. Ii did not like TO hear these truihs OF
the gospel. The world sa.d, Let the Lord stand
aside until We are done with the things Of earth;
Ia lt far
tunes and positions for our families; wo mustlook
alter the Interests and extend the area OF the
Snes God nut God VIII Sot Ds Ss vdIs wpe Sa
lie Will live, move and act iCroYer; and II We dc
lot receive him IN love We shah be Visited By
1t was the complaint OF the prophet of old tha,
tho world was itIgetiul " Gud, and II VAS las'
complaint in This enlightened nineteenth ryrtHry
OF oi stone; tut we dll worship
THE IDOLS up rRIDK,
Of vanity, Of riches, cr station, forgetting out
eternal destiny, Look over the nations Oi the
the nations that are forgctiul Of God: gee how
they worship the ministers Of crime, their only
object boing, worldly aEgrandiEcment, To hi,
purpose all things else must be subseryicnt. See
how, under tyrant Emperor, bishops are Tor
blddcn TO ordGin priests, except by permission o.
ss ssS 'hsG h ws1se nasSsy o even pS
God. But. although God ls iRnoicd. be viii com,
because his love Is despised. Ho viii yliu tn,
t.rpotiul nations with war, with pestlcncc, w,ti
iamine he VIII lay waste their beautiiui cItie'
and humble their pride. He will show. Hshc hal
oRen shown by such yisitations, that, after all
heis
TIE srrRENE RULER OF TIE EARTH.
Families are like nations, and God often visit.
them with manifestations Of his Measure. W.
have had many recent examples of'his angry Wis
itatiOns. Some who were once amorH the hights
and proudest in the land are now tsloni In prison
| pers today lie vile Of tho wealthy mao ' I5cs, &
citation Of sioeks, hnds her husbacd bankrupt
who ends his irTel ious career by tnkinR his HE
while the partner Of his toys and sorrows Is huTle,
from afineneo TO beEgaTy, and hI. goddess call
eISsns sbns ,hSt 1 siea % n net snd saI ,pn m
wicked men will be surely punished " they DO no
follow the teachings Of his Church. And tber
Tor their neglect OF duty. They made money, bu
In making II they had turned away from God, an,
HE VISITED THBN IN HIS WRATH
Perhaps It was BY giving them an idiot child
member Of tie family, perhaps by exposing th
fraudulent manner In which the head Of the fam
ily had conducted business, because he who was
visited the heads Of such families In his wrath be
cause they were untrue to tho teachings OF thei
praying % Ct 70 God, the esiamits made them nor ua
hardened, and the wife and children, crushed an'
humiliated, were often ashamed 10 move In scciety
u U
almost daily occurrences. These uniOrtunat
| events could all be Gyertosl II We loved God, be
cause then God would protest us IRON the snare
There were some Catholic. thu, were aIway
ready to compromise with error. They wanted 3
pare down & Their faith, to smooth n "a % The %rong p,
In fashionable soeietyi they wished 70 serve Go
and the world at the same lime. But This ooul
not be done. Catholics could not
COMPROMISE THE OLD FAITH;
Al ID. ali ~ Ia
celved whole and entire. John tho Baptist dldn'
pare down his mlth to suit the notions of his heal
tpi he didn't use sweet words when addTessin
monlsheI them Of the wrath to come unless the
prepared the way Of the Lord.
Eyen The ordinarily good ytrs o some m, yi.,s
departures from he right path. unforlunateli
| there were some Catholics who thought only Q
and, Instead oi coming to the altar, spent III
| Christmas time In debnuchery. For years the
have made II season Of riotous living, aud the.
yainly imagined that they can gO on with I'M
punity To the cnd. But some day God's angT
| visitation will come, and they win bc puhIsho
But tic reverend father said he Would no lonpe
dwell on this unpleasant part Of his subject. IL
! would invite them all TO come and share In III
| loyeof the groat festival Of Christians He wOul
invite them, In the language Of the gospel 1
mountain and nm .hail be brought low, and Ii
| crooked shnllbc made stragh ht, and the rouR way
| plain" lie wanted them TO come, because II wa
only In the Catholic Church that christmas had
iIdeed, any reality. ltwas only here that we hai
rHE "sAss oy cnRIsT,n
and II was only here that the infant Saviour cOul
| indeed be found in person. The priest was prlyl
legged to say three masses on Christmas dA y-hrs,
| 10 CONNIE morate the eo-equal birth Of Christ
| second, TO commemorate his birth In Bethleba u
third TO com mem orate his birth In our hcaril
| Every good Catholic felt happy on that eherishe
Ln0tnlng when the "GlOrla In Excelsh DeOm brOk
| forth, and the angelic hosts caught up the ioyou
sound, when he realized the iaet that the Saylou
| OF the world was not only born more than eightee
! hundred years ago, but that he was again Dor
| o. that blessed festival In every true gatholl
/ hoart, aad offered himself as the best, the mos
valued Christmas gin, Let, than, every CpthOll
Commensurate Christmas 10 the spirit Of GAtl
! that bolng united with the Divine DiiAnt on esrl l
| all might be htly prepared 90 sing his PRAISE
with the angels Tor all eternity. fn,thiE spTl
81. AIoysius - happy Chrlstmas.r
CHURCH OF THE STRANGER,s