The morning star and Catholic messenger., 1877-12-23
REV. FATHER FELIX, 3. J.


s.
REV. FATHKR FELIX. s.J.
IContinuedl.
We have already remarked that what rem
fers reaction by sacrifice necessary in human
sty is selfishness, because sacrifice 10 the very
cath of selhshness. Whence it Tesnlts that
= She spectacle Of sacrifice and abnegatiou be-
BONES 80 much the more necessary and sslu.
$aFy to society ~ esl6shness has there taken
more friGhtful proportions. Now, tell me.
have you we'll understood the selfshness of
gour timess Have you seen this hideous
nonster of contemporary sslfishpess passing
In all ranks of society, changing its form, but
Alway at bottom Identical with itselff Have
sou seen its greedy look9 Have you felt it's
Bold breathf Have you laid yonr hand on it's
fhnrd heart--a heart of brass. which is only
moved by oontact with vile metal and gross
3hingsf As for me have seen, / have felt
tbis selfishnees; have seen it's workipge, and
"a have said to myself: Here is the monster
:. that is consuming MS; below, above, in the
7niddle--everywhere it appears in it's natural
and repuisve attitade-a heart closed to re-
fuse, hands open to take, and everywhere fol-
lowing it's sordid instincts, devoaring its prey,
nhpd mookipg Humanity.
Now if such is the state of things, who does
mot comprehend that the example of sacrifice,
%Rnd of heroic sacrih 90, has become more neces.
barry to us than everf Since the world is fast
relRpsing into psganism, and since there is an
&eyer-fncreasing seifshness, who does not see
ehat in order to establish an equilibrium and
10 arrest Ms on the brink of the precipice, it is
NDecessary that there should be in the world,
(which claims to be and to remain Christian, an
INCREASING reactiou ag Ainst sel6shness, that is
ITO say, progress in renunciation, in abnegation
When We see this shameful cancer of human
selfshness spreading more and moro over all
the gaDgreRed members of the social body, in
proportion as they separate themselves from
CHRIST who was their life, why should we not
500 sacri6oe-that conservative salt of the
4 world-spreading itself more and more in all
+ the men6 6ers which the breath of Jeeus Christ
yet penetratesf Why shoald We not aspire to
see its realization in it's most heroic form and
in its mcse sublime pelsoni6cations And,
8whilst contemporary selfisbness is hnrryirg us
lon to the abyss by disastrous currents, why
shoufd We not see sacrifice, by opposite cnr-
rents, struggling against this vast torrent Of
ths age, to bring us back to salVation7
Il What is the fret current that is carrying
away our age in the rape of contemporary sell
6shness7 Must tell youi Who among you
has not felt it's violence and its oveEpoweriug
wayT All lit is the current of cupidity on.
eidity carrying away generations which run to
he abyss, exolaimipg: Let as be rich; let us
10 still richer let nd be the richest; and let
IS show in our clothing, in our edifces, in our
furniture, and even on our tables. by an ever
Increasing luxury, the brilliant sign of the
progress of riches, which shall be in the future
she honor of our times"
"a This is the cry of the age; this is the spirit
+ Df the age, the passion OF the sge; it is the op-
Pro6rium of the sge, exalted by the apostles Of
decline as the very glory Of the age. Ah, un-
happy men they call progress that pursuit of
gold, that fever for gold, that gross passion
for gold, which hardens all hearts, lowers all
oouls and debases all characters-a profound
and vast movement, and, at the present mo-
ment, general and almost universal move
ment
Do you doubt itf You csn sec it at O single
fglarce in these few contemporary phenomena;
pee mon who weigh themselves by the weight
pf gold; families which have formed them
eelves with gold see society which rolls on
old, and, in order to ascend or descend, await
pg but one thing-a rise or fall in stocks !;
pc, in the full blaze of Cbrist;anity, pagan
npidity, faithful to the worship of the golden
alf holding in check the progrers of nations
nd even the security of States besetting cap
BAL on all the exchanges of Europe, and fore
Ag Potentates themselves to weigh events
ith the weight of their gold yet more than
Rith the weight of their sword. And then de-
lending more into the detail of things. see
epriaes conceived by oupidity, organized by
Dck. jobbing, accepted by folly, and consum-
nted in rain! Is this alls No. See even in
ee midst of q ruin which is begun, and which
know to be as inevitable IS q fatality, see
lfsh cupidity multiplying immortality by inn
orality and shame by shame; BEE it on this
eclivity, where it is dragging multitudes to
isery, daring still to perpetrste expenses
6eubly ecandaleus and doubly immoral, rather
Ian diminish anything of that cruel luxury
Hhloh will cause so many tears to how and
roduce so many deplorAble miseries.
Behold the current! the current which is
gowing, which is rushing on and threatening
drag. everything with it--man, the family
Mt of cupidity which is OVERLOOKING, do you
how what is the strongest and most efica-
lous barrieri What, thenI sumptuary
AwsH legal enactments against cupidity 7
poks against the thirst for gold3 discources
ainst luxuryf No. That which is moet
werful to drive away from us the ssturnaiia
eupidity is the example Of voluntary desti.
At1on the practical preaching Of poverty
10 Capuchin, with his bare head exposed to
Burning sun; the Carmelite Friar, With lis
eeding feet exposed to the cold of winter
the biting north wind; the poor Glare or
Trappist, under that habit which was for
Ely only the livery of poverty, and which,
Ehe effect of contrast, appears now as the
gn of misery in fine, the little Carmelite,
forth from historical, and perhaps even
tEncial aristocracy, appearing with her
Ns OF cloth or serge, an imege of the most
glute prtvation; clothed like the poorest,
e like the poorest, sleeping like the poorest,
aeel1ng cold like the poorest, and hunger and
tL9t sometimes like the most disinberited of
the poor.
9ee her in her nuptial robe, the holy spouse
Jesus, stript of all things. Where are now
ose sitken garments f-Where those orna.
ontS, those Derfumea rnbiaa hracalefa oil