The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-02-08
HOURS OF WORSHIP
THE PLEAsANTEsT OF ALL THE
WEEK, SAYS ARCHBISHOP
IRELAND.
ATTENDANCE AT ONE MASS
EACH WEEK IS ENJOINED UPON
ALL BELIEVERS BY THE
CHURCH.
SLAVERY OF THE MATERIAL
Universe Only to BE Destroyed by
the Influences of the Holy
Spirit.
ATTENDANCE AT ONE MASS


said in part:
The one hour in the week most comforting
most salutary, is that which we spend before
the affairs of the living God. 1t should be to
us the most pleasing, the most gratifying, of
all the hours of the week We are hidden to
come at least once in the week within the
temple OF God, there to adore Him, thank
Him, and implore His graces. For Catholics
the command of the church is most solemn
Hear mass at least once a week on Sunday
and unles you hear it the sin is mortal. Why
is the church so positive in this command
that we appear every Sunday, when it is
at all possible, before the altar? 1t is be-
cause in the hearing of mass on Sunday. in
the assistance at divine service, the soul is
made to live for the time being a life di-
vine. 1t is because on that one hour of di-
vine service the soul depends for the graces
OF heaven which it needs to live pure, holy
Christian life. The assistance at divine ser
vice is not the fulfllment of the entire law,
but it leads to that fulfllment. And when
the custom has been contracted by Christians
to remain away from time to time from mass
on Sunday there is the great peril that the
life of grace is passing away from the SOUL
and that it shall be lost altogether to
God. Six days of the week we give to things
of earth and how strong the tendency of ma
terial things to drag the soul down to their
level, and make of it a part of themselves.
How weakening to the better elements of the
soul this struggle with matter is! At its best
life is indeed a constant warfare, leaving
necessarily deep wounds upon the spirit, and
is replete with sorrows, with trials, with
sadness. Fortunate are we that Gods church
is with us, bidding US to abstract ourselves
even for a little while, out Of the world,
with joy and gladness, Christian brethren,
into the presence of God
By prayer and meditation you put on ethe
rial wings and lift yourselves into the very
presence of the Infinite, and realize for some
little while that you are not Of the clay Of
the earth, that you have in you a soul which
is superior to all these material surroundings,
which belongs to higher world. Understand
that your soul is made to Gods own image
and likeness, and that the true region of its
life is the very region of Gods paradise. The
soul cannot put itself face to face with AL
mighty God, even for a little while, without
viewing in itself His divine image and becom-
ing more spiritual, more divine. If we live
constantly in a certain atmosphere We iden-
tify ourselves with il, become almost 1neXtrl-
cably a part of it; and thus it happens that
men who, without ceasing, attend to material
things become absolutely cold and hard and
lifeless, so far the life of the skies is
concerned. God to them becomes a mere
word or a mere uncertain, vague entity,
with which they have no concern. They have
no aspirations beyond those of mere animal
life, which is bordered by the cradle and by
the grave, whose sole purpose seems to be to
gather in food and raiment and to enjoy the
pleasure that food and raiment may procure
them. They have made no effort to live OF
the divine life, to impress upon themselves
the truth that there is in them spirit and
consequently. from mere lack of exercise as
it were, it dies.
What is the purpose of this whole life of
ours? Why are we in it? Whittier are we
going? Why do men live? If you judge them
from their actions and their replies when
questioned ten thousand do not know. They
may know why they attempt a task today,
why they make plan for tomorrow, but
they do not pause to know what is the whole
purpose Of life. After all life is very
small thing, ai-few years and all is over.
Is there nothing beyond the grave? That is
the question:, and we must put it to our
common sense we must adapt our whole
course of action to the great and solemn pur-
pose of life. This we do on Sunday morning
when we are in the presence of Almighty
God, when we go down on our knees and
say, at least, "Our Father who art in
Heaven" All, yes, there is the purpose Of
life. God is Father. We are the chill
dren of God, consequently heirs of God born
for Gods own kingdom. And in that mag
nitude Of man which comes to him when
he puts himself at his proper elevation,
measures the things of earth and measures
them as they deserve to be measured, he
sees their pettiness. he sees that they are but
vanities of vanities, any one of them having
no purpose, serving no end unless 1t fits in
with the sole destiny Of man, of man born
for the skies The soul has been refreshed,
endowed with new powers, and it is not
dominated by mere matter, it holds matter
under it's own domination.
When on Sunday morning in the presence
of God that great lesson is read to us, that,
if we endure these earthly sorrows for Gods
sake in submission to His holy will, we are
helped by our very trials on our way to our
heavenly home. The hour spent here is an
hour of consolation and joy, of divine
strengthening. We know too well that left
to ourselves we are not able to cope vic
toriously with our trials and struggles. We
need a powerful hand to sustain us. We
need that voice which will assist us amid
temptations; which will assist us in pros
perity and in adversely; the voice of God.
But that voice does not speak for them who
do not invoke it. If you pray not, God does
not assist you. You a prey to every
passion the victim of every temptation. Then
come at least once wekk and say to God:
20, save US, Master, or we perish" Oh,
strong is the man who knows how to pray
Strong is the soul that on Sunday morning
at least for hour has lived the life of
God and has felt itself to be a spirit, a
creature of the skies. How easy, my brethren,
how sweet all this is on Sunday morning
for the children of Gods church. You come
into the temple to worship, to pray, to ask
for graces and blessings. Is the temple a
mere vacant house before you enter It? Is
there no one there while you pray but your
self and your fellow mortals? The temple Of
Gods church is the house of God. You come
to meet your God, and God comes down to
meet you. Oh the blessedness of that last
supper, at which Christ in His omnipotence
changed bread and wine into His own body
and blood and then babe His apostles to do
what He had done, thus instituting the per-
petual sacrifice through which Christ was
to be really, truly and substantially with us
always. Oh, the blessing of the Catholic al
TAR upon which at the moment Of the conse-
Grafton Christ becomes truly present. Christ
is the being supernaturally omnipotent and
his rengl0n must necessarily be Supernat-
ural and must thrill at every moment Of its
existence with supernatural power, otherwise
it is not the child of God made man. So
do not be astonished when in that divine
religion you told Of Christ's perpetual
presence through the sacrifice Of the mass
of Christ Jesus, for there in His name and
with His power the priest says: "This is NV
body, this is My blood" and instantly, be-
cause sooner should the skies be rolled I'D
as dry parchment and earth be annihilated.
than that a promise of Christ should not
be realized-instantly Christ is really present
on the altar. God is with you in His temple
You speak to Him face to face. His very
presence Is a pledge that He is only too an
Xfous to grant your prayers, and prayer is
easy and sweet. You come in and you salute
your Divine Master and you receive from
Him all graces; and when you go forth into
the world you go re-created, re-made, spir-
itualiZed. So soon as the Sunday sun has
risen say to yourselves, it is Sunday. Re-
member the great duty of the day and go
to mass. Unless there be absolutely physical
or moral impossibilities, hargen to no ex-
cuse, go gladly to meet your God, to meet
Him. to speak to Him. So soon as a Catholic
begins to be negligent in hearing mass on
Sunday his spiritual life weakens and he
gradually drifts away from God until he ia
merely Christian In name.