The herald., 1896-08-17
AT THE CATHEDRAL
The Feast OF st. joachim Celebrated With Ap
propriafe Ceremonies

Yesterday at the Cathedral the feast
of st. Joachim, the father of the Virgin
Mary, was celebrat ted. A solemn high
mass was sung with Very Rev. Joach-
i'm Adam as celebrant. Rev. J. Doyle as
deacon and Rev. NJ McAulitfe as sub
deacon. The singing of the choir, under
the able management of Prof. Stamm,
was of the usual high order. Rev. Jo-
seph Nunan delivered the sermon, TAX
ing for his text, Thou shalt love the
Lord thy God" from the gospel of the
day. Previous to his sermon he spoke
OF the labors of Father Joachim Adam
the namesake of the saint. in the pio-
neer days OF Southern California. He
vividly portrayed the difficulties which
the early missionaries encountered in
their efforts of saving souls to Christ
Father Adam, he said. has witnessed
the growth of Southern California al
most from its infancy. Years ago.
whilst many of us had not yet seen the
light Of day, he was working for the
greatest honor and glory of God in this
western world of ours. His labor of
love is not yet ended. He is still in our
midst still in harness. and on this. his
feast day, we should fervently pray that
God might spare him to us for many
years to come Beginning the sermon
proper. the reverend preacher said
God is love and love is God. Wherever
we cast our eyes over this wonderful
world of ours, we behold in luminous
characters the evidences of his bound
less love. Glance at he starry vault
above US, contemplate it's surprising
beauties, listen in spirit to the melody
of the ever-revolving spheres and the
sum and substance of their song is the
vastness and the profundity of the love
of God. Stop and gaze upon the flow
ers of the fields, note their divers
shades and colorS, the rigid exactitude
of their proportions hearken to their
gentle speech, and they will proclaim
to you the greatness of the love of God
Stand upon some tall cliff and let your
eyes roam over the surrounding country
here a fertile valley, rich in luscious
fruit or mellow with the ripening grain.
there musical stream, roaming through
flowers and meadows-and what will
all this tell you? What is the sound that
will reach your ears from below? 1t Is
this: God is love.
God is infinitely worthy of love. God
loves us with an infinite love, and God
desires most ardently our love. He
proceeded to enlarge these three great
truths, the force of which, he said, no
one could resist. From consideration
of the attributes of Gar. from the knowl-
edge of what he has done for man, the
speaker proved the worthiness of God
to our love. The angels sinned and yet
no mercy, no Indulgence was ever Of
fered them. Man fell and the eternal son
took upon himself the burden of our
crimes, and by his death on the cross
restored us to the friendship of the
deity. Through love God created man,
made him a rational, intellectual crea-
ture, and placed him. lord over the visi-
BILE world. All things we possess come
from God-life, health, beauty of soul
and body He is the author of all and
all should be referred to him. In the
law of Jesus Christ the love of God is
the road that leads to the holy city of
Sion. Religion makes saints in this
world through the means Of the same
love. Who is the true Christian? He to
whom all the obligations of the faith, and
all the graces of his vocation in Christ
are subjected, dedicated and conse-
Grated to the love of God. This love is
the virtue on which, as on pivot rests
the whole economy of individual saliva
tion. Without it we are irrevocably
lost. With it we can do, as st. Angus
tine says as we will.
God demands our loves. The love he
desires is one of preference; that is, a
love superior to and above all others.
Son. give me thy heart" thy whole un-
ulNlueu HedIl ne dShS lOi H. lie pleduS
for it, he begs for it. Will we Christians
refuse such an earnest request? No, we
are not monsters of ingra titude Ma
tural it is for us to love those who love
US. How deep, then should be our love
for God! Love him with the whole
strength of our being. Love him in
life that we may love him in death. Love
him as our creator and redeemer, that
meeting him as our judge, we may love
him forever as our God. when the waves
of time are lost in the ocean of eternity.