The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-12-04

sion. No; it will not open to us the
gates of heaven to be able to say-I was
all, child d6s1 OF Gods church; for the Lord
VIII answer: NOT every one who saith
TO Me-, Lord. Lord. shall enter the king
o9 9 Oh heaven, but he who doth the will
more; we shall be all the more guilty for
having been members of His church If
our souls We're not sanctified through it,
for we had the responsibility of honor
ing Him by honoring His church, the re-
spons1bll1ty of honoring her by exhibit
Eng Eng IN our own lives the effect of her in
huence upon us; and II we failed to do
so, we dishonored both church and
Christ We are obliged to assist at mass
every Sunday. To remain away is for
e ef lII or the honor we owe God, and
OF our duty to appropriate to ourselves
the means of salvation. But remember
that to come simply to mass, observe
the movements of the priest on the al
tar and hearken to the words spoken
from the pulpit without uniting ourselves
Intimately with the divine victim Of the
altar, without taking deeply into our
souls the words of truth we hear, with
out realizing as the effect of union with
Christ an increase in love and faith pu-
Tlty and Increase of sanctity in our souls,
is not serving God as God desires to be
served. The SacramentS of the church
are established that the graces merited
by Christ on Calvary flow as through
sacred channels even into our souls. The
purpose or the Sacraments is to wash
sin from the soul, and to pour into it the
NE OF Christ. But unless we be regener-
ated by them, they have been instituted
IN vain for US. To receive the sacra-
ments without the inner change of the
soul. which is a condition for the wor-
thy reception Of them. is only profana-
uon OF them. If while receiving the sac
faments from time to time we show in
our on daily walk that we are still sons
earth, thirsting only for the joys Of
earth, the sacraments have brought us
no profit, and the life of Christ has not
oeen infused into our souls. And all this
IS equally to be said Of the practices in
the church not obligatory upon us as is
the hearing of mass, or the receiving of
sacramentals of the church. The church
c9Lnmends to US the use of sacramentals
-plest water, images of Christ and of
Ills saints, medals and scapulars. These
things have a beautiful purpose-to put in
our minds, through the eyes and ears of
the body; thoughts of Christ and of His
OF soul But to think that such prac-
tees, or the use of such external arti-
cles of devotion will be of real profit to
US unless we change our hearts and
souls, is delusion most fatal. To think
that we can by outward act or outward
profession, or the use of material OBJ
without the serious effort Of the soul to
transform itself into likeness with
Christ, is fatal error.
END IS OUR SANCTIFICATION.
What is needed is our sanctification the
effort of the soul to transform itself into
another Christ. On the last day the
scrutinizing eye of the judge will peer
!nlO the souls Of men to see how far
It can discover in them the image of
GOD, and on the existence of that image
IN the soul will depend its vocation to
eternal happiness in heaven. Therefore,
brethren, let us work and work seduIous-
Iy to be Christians; Christians as Christ
wishes us to be. Let us, in the words
e OF the epistle of this day, cast off the
1ty, contention, jealousy putting on the
Lord Jesus Christ
IF we live in the spirit, let us walk
also IN the spirit But the fruit of the
spirit is charity, joy, peace, patience,
ness; faith, modesty, CONTINGENCY, chas-
Oh, let us so be on our guard that the
aust OF foul earth does not stain our
souls, that the seeds of moral death.
with which the atmosphere of the world
is charged, find in them no resting place.
Let us be on our guard against sin; and
then let us do all the good we can For
we are called by God not only to avoid
S9ln' but to grow every day in justice.
0OoSerVe the ideal proposed to us by
goo; BE ye perfect as my heavenly
Father himself is perfect" The noble
vocation Of Christians, to be called by
the incarnate Son of God to rise even
unto unto the, perfection of the infinite! Oh,
the privilege to be allowed to aspire to
an imitation of Gods own perfectioni
on, God, we praise Thee for the vocation
that is given to US. Miserable indeed we
were If hearing the call of heaven we
&c not instantly respond. Yes, oh Lord.
labor while on earth to please Thee, to
serve Thee, so that when the dav of
eternity now so rapidly approaching will
GAVIN, will be ready in purity and inno-
cence OF my soul to cross the threshold
OF Thine own heavenly abode.