The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1877-06-24
CHARITY TWICE BLESSED.
tAEessenger of the Sacred Hearty


church. The box " For the Poor caught
his eye, and pausing moment he dropped
| into it q nice contribution. 1t was not the
first nor the last time. he did so, though he
was not rich. But said no one was look
ing. l mnst add that some one saw 1t, and
will tell You, my deal. young friend,
what He thought of it.
Christ, who beheld you doing that act,
thought of you just what re thought and
said on another occasion, when He was
seated near the treasury box in the Tenn
pie. His disciples at the time were scat
tered about, probably answering questions
put by the inquisitive or giving Informa
strncting crowd of people. Now widow
came in; and He, who knows everything,
saw how poor she was. She passed by the
box and dropped in two mites-less than q
farthiDg. Many others had entered before
her, and they had thrown in their gold
pieces, but he took no notice of them.
What shall say happened nowf Wac he
struck with surprise-with admiration
Ia he raised to excitement-to enthusiasm,
He, the Lord of Glory Have two mites
of a widow made 80 much diff ,rsnce in His
eyes, that He eummons together His apos.
ties from all parts of the Temple, and He
points her out to them, just as she is dis
appearing among a crowd of the faithful,
quite unconscious, poor simple soul that
God is pointing to her, and extolling her
to an admiring world. What does he say
"Amen / say to you, che hath given more
than all the rest. For they threw in OF
their abundance; but abe of her poverty,
yea, all that she hatb!'
You zee, this suits His Heart. Aud if
you, my young friend, do the same as she
did, it is because you have the same spirit
as she had-Charity, unobtrusiye, secret,
real charity, for God whom you seein your
neighbor, for Christ in His poverty stricken
hkaro hot
suffer from n weakness with regard to the
poor7 You experience an oppref sion some
what about the heart, when you witness
any suffering or poverty. You are pressed
by an impulse to Ielieve-to relieve, rot
by voting for poor houses, or doing away
with " vagrancy," not by clearing the
streets of hucksrers, to make the city look
neat and clean while pauperism, do not
say poverty, but downright pauperism, a
discovery and Improvement of our times,
breeds and spreads, faster and wider, in
garrett and cellar, and dare not show it's
face at the corner of street to AJAX for a
miserable aims. 1t is not by "philan-
thropy" that you feel pressed to relieve ::
no, but by real charity.
Give way to the impulse, my friend, and
hear the cries of the needy. Despise not
thine own flesh for all of MS are of one
Father. Hear their cry, the pitiful cry of
the poor, as YEARLY they work and work
sci for the children on their bosom, and to
keep body and soul together
o God that bread should be dear.
And flesh and blood cheap
Forget awhile the interests and comforts of
mean, paltry self; and open your soul
wider to the play of an active charity, of a
delicate, sensitive sympathy, of grand
compassion for the poor ones OF Christ.
Look out upon that world of misery round
about you-alas you cannot see it, for it ls
burie6-buried by shame, buried by police
and the law, which forbid poverty to show
it's face buried in unventilated graves OF
horrible attics, in clouds of pestilential
vapors while men and women and chill
dren of noble parts and immortal souls
have their bright lives smothered away in
an untimely death far away from the
sidewalks and the sight of the gentry, far
away from the sacred presence of fne
ladies, and the delicat perfumes of pam
pered children.
/ assure you, when the heart opens to
interests like these, and admits them as
welcome guests, and fosters them daily, it
develops and grows to a degree of III al gulf
cent manhood, which is worth more than
all your education and science, your Guilt
walton and social polish, pnt together. 1t
is charity which is twice blessed. SIT
blesseth him that gi Jee and him that takes "
For "when thou shalt pour ouB thy snal to
the hungry, and shalt satisfy the ata cted
soul, then shall thy light rise up i'll dark
ness, and thy darkness shall be as the
nooIday" Us. lviii, 10Y The good deed
reacts npon yourself, perfecting your per-
son and identifying your character the
chords of your affection are strung again
and toned :; the mind is enlarged and
grows resplendent in its own lustre thu
heart is purified, and the whole soul re-
fleets IN lts depths the t. transparent calm
and lucid repose of Him, whose spirit is 30
good and sweet, and whose mercies are
above all his works.
For this reason He hath made every son
of man a sharer in the dispensation of His
goodness; and if you will prove ever faith
full to the charge which be hath given you
over your poor destitute neighbor, you will
shine like "gem minute of heavenly vir-
tue broken off from heavenly sphoves-a
christal of the frst water reproducing
Christianity in Miniatures brilliant re
fulgenr for eternity-and jewel or the
brow of her who bore you.
ALL STUDENTS SHOULD HAVE THEIR
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