The morning star and Catholic messenger., 1878-12-29
The New Year.

manner to the years of time as they come ant
60 in their uneeasipg round. We do not ga.
q ne,o day, or week, or month but another day
another week, another month. It is only o
the opening of each successive twelvemontt
that we exclaim Behold TIE rep year! 1t il
new in every meaning of the word for it com
prises within it's circle all the yicssitudes Il
| which humanity is subject and all the changes
| to which nature is allied. The word ne,s, il
connection thus with the year, is full of sug
gestve thought and brings to the mind at once
an epitome of time and figure of eternity.
A single year reveals all the mysteries Of
| birth and life and death, and, at the same
time, all the wonderful workings of insnimate
creation, so that, at it's close, the grand pano
| rama of Gods wisdom in regard to man and
| nature has been completely and sablimely un-
| folded. Each year is q new volume of Ipfinite
| love-the writing is familiar to our eye, the
words are souvenirs to our heart; but the
binding is new and wonderful, and we touch it
with mingled feeling of awe and amazement
of love and delight.
A single year includes all that nature can
show of changing charms and varied excel
lenoe, the seasons have manifested all their
mysterious Influences, and the entire story of
tuclE SuUllluo D6DGu 3 10 Ru 6nu uauuE0 Is
fully told.
Yes, each year is new one in the chain of
time; and in it's completeness, its beauty and
it's mystery it presents to MS figure Of eter
nifty. A blissful eternity will be an endles }
year complete in joy, perfect in beauty and
divine in it's excellence; but 10 secure this
boon we must make proper use of each new
gift which forms ''the circle of our years"
New Years Day, then, unlike Christ mas,
which is foil Of light hesstedness and hope
should be time Of grave reflection and CT
tender memory. 1t is q day for men and not
children-for they alone can realize it's deep
responsibilities. grasp its varied promises, and
appreciate the recollections which it calls up
from the past. 1t is q day when men shonld
have hearts, not of infants, bat of giants, for
they stand before sealed and mysterious door
which no word of sesame eau open, but which
their own stout arms most force aeunder.
Within the dim recesses Of single year whst
wonders are concealed, what joys await, what
sorrows luIk, what peace repoaes, what virtues
stand, for them to tiud aud make their own
II is day when man should feel ss Cesar
felt when he paused beside the Rubicon, for
in the unknown future there may be glory or
there may be shame-a sceptre or tomt-a
rich reward or an ignoble failure.
New Years Day! The list page in an un
read volpmel It must have all the joys and
,orrows, all the light and weakness, all the
'urmoi and the peace of its companions in
,he past but these will all be new-wi5h new
yarbs, new faces, and will come to each of us
With new pang of grief or a new thrill Of
pleasure.
No nau no linn in q
drama full of incidents and strange results, of
smiles and tears, of JOY and sorrowl Mons
hearts have need Of courage, for on that day
5he curtain rises upon thoughts and words and
sctons whose conclusions one can foresee-
and they have need of strength, for many
bridal dream Gill end in grief, and many a
fairy scene of pleasure close in litter desola-
tion.
New Years D4yi A new bark for use upon
,he onward course of time; bat no one can
give any assurance that it will bear us on in
safety We seat ourselves npon it's deck, but
it is not with the careless joy of little children
drifting on the wave-but rather with the
intense anxiety of earnest seamen who know
there are rocks ahead and dangers near,
through which only Oae strong baud can guide
them.
Aud thus we zee that New Years Day is not
q time for smiles alone-but for grave refeo
ton; time not for childish merriment, but
for manly thought; time not for joyous hope
but for "memory and for tears"
The old year has closed it's psges-let Us try
to have brighter record for the new. 1t has
dropped its curtain on the past, let Us try to
have nobler scenes in the future. 1t has cut
adrift it's useless bark, let try to freight the
new one with the purest aspirations of youth
and the noblest actions of manhood.
Let it be, indeed, new year for us all-new
in higher thoughts and aims, in stronger reso-
Iutions, in truer purposes and in better deeds.
Let it be new in the turning away from all
that is displeasing to Him who gives us the
gift Of years that we may use them for His
glory and our good-and as each new one may
be the last, let us take it with trembling hands,
yet with eager hearts, ready to hold if He