The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1898-08-06
Bishop McFaupS Patriotic Sermon
q New Jersey Soldiers.
AMERICA is A BLESSED LAND
Remember That She Is the Favored
Child of Providence.
THIS is A WAR FOR HUMANITY
Realize That You Are Battling for
God and Country.

UUu dnu SOuNITy.
AT See Girt camp, Sunday morning,
July "a, Bishop McFaul, of Trenton, said
mass, and afterwards preached to about
700 members of the 4th regiment of New
Jersey volunteers.
He took his text from I. Cor. tx, "a,
rs:
know you not that they that run in
the race, all run indeed, but one receiv-
eth the prize? So run that you may OBJ
tain. And every one that striveth for
the mastery refraineth himself from all
things; and they indeed that they may
receive corruptible crown; but we an
incorruptible one"
My dear soldiers, said the bishop, this
seems to me to be one of the most beau
tiful passages Of the apostle of the ma
tions, st. Paul. He is desirous of filling
the minds of his hearers with enthusi-
asm and with courage in the race for the
imperishable prize which the just Judge
will render to the victorious Christian
athlete on that last great day when He
pronounces on the actions of men, and
he employs as an illustration the games
which took place, at regular intervals,
on the isthmus of Corinth. These games
were famous throughout all Greece.
Every Grecian youth looked forward with
the keenest anxiety to the time when he
might be allowed to participate in them
For we'll he knew that, if he had the
good fortune to be successful therein,
his brow would be crowned with the
parsley or the pine, and the poets and
the orators Of his native land would de-
light in proclaiming his praises.
The apostle is careful to draw atten-
tion to the fact that these athletes exer-
cised their bodies and rendered them ro-
bust; trained their muscles to strength
and suppleness; refrained from every
thing that might be detrimental to those
qualities, and partook of whatever was
beneficial. Then, with true natural elo-
que1ce, he allows lis to mentally COM
pare the pagan with the Christian ath-
lete. we at once conclude that in the
Grecian games only one of the contest
ants could hope to receive prize, and
that an lmperishable one, bestowed by
the creator of the universe. To all this
ne has given stroke of power by pre-
facing it with this apparently abrupt but
very important advice, $50 run that Won
may obtain"
All! yes, how necessary 1t is that we
run, mot as at an uncertainty" that we
fight mot as one beating the air >,
therefore does the apostle emphasize
the necessity of our being trained Chris.
tian athletes, or, what is the same.
Christian soldiers, for we are all called
to battle for heaven, for an enduring
crown, against most powerful enemies
the world, the flesh and the evil spirit.
BY baptism we have all enlisted in the
army of Christ; by confirmation we are
all trained soldiers and admonished to
carry the standard of the cross unsullied
and unstained throughout our entire
lives. Moreover our training has been
under the direction of the great Captain
Jesus Christ From Him we have re-
celved divine strength, the gift of faith
without which 1t is impossible to please
God. and the supernatural grace re.
quisite for the observance of His holy
laws. To encourage us we have the ex.
ample Of former heroes who nobly up
held the sacred standard of the cross,
the glorious apostles and their SUCCESS
Ors, the millions of both sexes who
fought and bled, yea, and died, on a
thousand battlefelds against paganism
and unbelief, against the passions of
men, even against their own corrupt in
clinations Heroes, every one of them
victorious. On no field has the cross of
Christ ever gone down in ignominy and
defeat, and it will remain unconquered
and unconquerable during the everlast-
ing ages.
You, my dear soldiers, are enrolled
under that invincible ensign, for you are
children of the great Catholic church
but you also enjoy another enviable dis
tinction. You are soldiers of glorious
America, and that consider one of the
highest of temporal honors. Next tc
God, next to religion, next to the sol.
dier of Christ comes our beloved coun.
try, her sacred institutions and her sol.
dier defenders. OF old this was the
proud boast of an apostle of Christ in
the midst of his enemies, Il am a Ro,
man citizen"-"Civis Romanus sum-
The Roman was citizen of the greatest
empire the world had then known, and
his name was respected on land and
sea- But what was imperial Rome
compared with this young republic oi