The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1899-12-23

Christ by Rev Walter Elliott esp
This superb work has been going through
The press for the last year and il will be
some months still before ii is issued. Be
sides the strong devotional tone which
makes its narrative so attractive, the
work is adorned by over 800 beautiful IL
Illustrations.
st. John the Baptist was the saint
with whom it pleased God to close the
older dispensation and its long line of
herOeS-a saint whose virtues should
be a worthy type of the ancient glories
of Israel. His origin was from the pur-
est sources of Hebrew holiness, the
venerable couple Zachary and Eliza
beth, and was intimately Joined to the
conception and birth of the Messias, of
whom he was appointed to be the pre-
cursor.
1t was to Zachary that it pleased God
TO send the earliest announcement that
the worlds redemption was al hand. In
the performance of his priestly duty in
the Temple he had entered the Holy of
Holes to offer incense. We may well
suppose that God opened this true
priests heart to the entire race Of man
kind in preparation for his marvellous
vision, but especially that his holy soul
forgetting personal unWorthiness. eX-
panded and embraced in its offering to
God his own chosen race. upon whom
pended for their redemption. AS the
fragrant. incense assembled it bore his
heartfelt petitions upward to the throne
Of grace.
Suddenly a flashing light dazzled and
almost blinded him-at the right side of
the altar just beside the bread of prop
ositiOn, stood an angel of the Lord.
Zachary's humility overwhelms him; is
this visitatino for his sins?
He was troubled and fear fell upon
him. The angel speaks and fear gives
place to a thrill of ecstasy: Fear not,
Zachary, for thy prayer is heard: and
thy wife Elizabeth shall bear thee a
SON" More oh. wonderfully
more: he is to be prophet. another
Elias. a leader of Israel. Ito prepare
unto the Lord a perfect people"
The union Of Joseph and Mary in
uncarnal wedlock is the beginning of
that marvel Of our concupiscent man
hood. the celibate priesthood of the
Church of Christ. Love for Jesus and.
for his living taberpacle. his mother
was to Joseph the passion of passions
As he served Jesus and loved Mary in
severe chastity, SO do the members of
the priesthood serve the eVer-Dresent
Christ and his living tabernacle, which
is his Church, in a spirit of joyful self
immolation. being so fascinated with
this holy love that they forget the
natural claims of flesh and blood. IN
derstand the virginia. spouseship of
Nazareth and you have the key to
clerical celibacy.
Since her miraculous conception of
the forerunner of Gods anointed Eliz-
abeth had known that he must soon
appear but she had not the faintest
notion where or how. The sight of
Mary revealed it all, for the Christ
bearer was beaming in every loving
feature of Mary's face, and quivered
in the tones of her voice as she saluted
here KnswOman. The dignity of Mary
as the Mother of God-made man, the
promises of the angel to her. and the
relation of the two babes to each
other, all was revealed. And not only
10 herself was this light given and this
heavenly secret unfolded, but also to
her unborn son. AS Elizab beth was the
first woman to acclaim the Savior and
his mother with the voice of divine
worship, so was the son in her womb
the first man to proclaim him now
though yet unborn, and again upon the
banks of the Jordan amid the eloquent
tones of his penance-preaching
st. Matthew briefly describes the
hard trial of Joseph and its issue:
Now the generation of Christ was in
this wise. When as his Mother Mary
was espoused to Joseph, before they
came together she was found with
child, Of the Holy Ghost. Whereupon
Joseph her husband, being a just man,
and not willing publicly to expose her,
was minded to put her away privately
%
Yet it is not too much to say that the
heart Of Joseph was tried more pain
Iully than Mary's, for the mystery was
all revealed to her and was all hidden |
from him. To him the woe was over
whelming. God, therefore, chose to
set forth his viii not to Mary but to
Joseph and that by means of vision. |
One night when he had fallen asleep, |
wearied with grief and doubt the
angel Of the Lord was sent to him and |
spoke TO him as in a dream. The |
angel came to him and saluted him |
with the great title of Son of David, |
called Mary his wife, and said, that |
Which is conceived in her is Of the
Holy Ghost"
on arriving at Bethlehem the Holy |
Family found the little city swarming |
with people, like themselves come to |
The place Of enrolment.
Here it was that Mary became a |
mother. first looked upon the face of |
her Babe, offered him up TO his |
Heavenly Father. pressed him to her
heart gave him to Joseph to embrace,
sucked him most lovingly, wrapped I
him up in swaddling- clothes, and laid
him in a manger:" then they both |
knelt down and adoTed him. II was a |
very humble cradle for the Son Of God;
but this monarch Of the world viii yet |
choose TO reign from g throne so |
painful as the cross.
Mary. under Joseph's escort, went TO /
Jerusalem and stood at the door of the
Temple when her forty days were ac-
complished. as if she too were unclean. |
one Of the Priests sDrinkled her with !
the sacrificial blood and declared her
purified. As she was too poor to offer
The yearling lamb, she presented the
legal substitute, a present Of two
lurtle-doves.
The visit Of Jesus. his parents all
unBnowing, to the precincts Of the
Temple. and what happened there, is
d connecting link between the Presen-
tauon and his appearance as Messias
On the banks Of the Jordan. The divine
zeal Of Jesus was not visible in early
childhood. but the heart of the Boy
was ablaze with it. and he allowed it
suddenly to burst forth eighteen years
before his public manifestation.
o
Perhaps Mary and Joseph were Tor
time separated from each other, and
when Jesus went back to the Temple
the mother may have thought him with
Joseph, and he have fancied the BOY
TO be with his mother; and so the frst
day passed without anxiety. But When
the evening halt was reached al
Ia nla-. "a