The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-11-12
THE BREAD FROM HEAVEN.
Subject OF Rev. Father p. A. HaIpin's
sermon at 81. Patrick's.

The second sermon at the vesper
services of the Forty Hours Devotions,
which were begun at st. Patrick's
Church Sunday. was delivered last
night by Rev. Father P. A. Halpin, S.
j.. who took as his text:
He gave them bread from Heaven
to eat, which contains inSitself all de-
light"
Father Halpin said in part: There
isn't any doubt that man forgets God
and daily seeks consolation and delight
in everything save him. No doubt man
by his natural as well as by his Chris
tian vocation, is summoned to walk
erect and keep his eyes fixed on that
Heaven which, considering the great
creative act in his birthplace and con
sidering his royal destiny. is intended
to be the regal mansion of his habita-
ton during all the years that make up
eternity.
THE king prophet from his watch
tower looking abroad over the peoples
of the world. made this lamentable
discovery and cried out in the excess
of his consternation Why is the earth
made desolate' and the Holy Spirit
gave him back the immediate answer,
because there is no man that medita-
teth on his heart.
Yes, a deplorable fact is this to
contemplate. And in the darkness,
forgetfulness and the desolation of the
one bright particular fact is that
while man forgets God. God has never
forgotten man. AS the poet said God
is in his Heaven and it is albright
with the world
Among the many proofs that God
holds us securely and imperishably
in his memory is the Blessed Sacra-
ment. Man in his waywardness
thought only of earthly food and
earthly delight in the ludicrous at
tempt to keep as a lasting possession
for himself things that by their very
nature cannot last, and are on their
way to death from the first moment
of their existence. The life of the body
is quenched in the grave; mans
senses are dulled by use and so the
story of bodily life and the story OF
carnal pleasure is one of disapDoint-
ment, of WEAKNESS and vexation OF
soul. -
There is a life. beyond the life OF
the body, life eternal-the life of the
soul. There is a pleasure that no mat
ter in what golden a cup it may be
presented, is bitterness eXtreme-ano
there is a delight which, once tasted
incapactates ones palates for every
thing that the world may offer.
After all. what has the world tc
offer? Life. pleasure, fame. and what
is the life the world bestows?
Like the snow that falls in the
river is seen a moment, then lost
forever.
Pleasure is like peoples spread. yor
seize the flower, the bloom is fed.
And like the borealis race that fits
ere you can point it's place Fame oil
| glory is the gift of the tickle minded
| mob that to-day crowns and to-mor
row reduces TO beggary. Can it b'
that man with these immortal instinct:
is made for such feetine
| things? God, because He Low.
ed us, has decreed otherwise
and has made it mans mission on eartl
to reach out for things that never per.
ish, and the soul life which He gives
is life eternal.
The pleasure and the glory which
He prepares for man are such that ey'
| of man hath not seen, the ear of maj
hath not heard and it hath not entered
into the mind of man to conceive. Blu
how to reach out for that splendid des
tiny? Man, on account of his fraiity
on account of the vicissitudes of exist
ence; finds himself weak and unable I
bear the burden of the day and tn
I I.
of God, he can discover no bread tina
has in it the power to sustain him il
the struggle; and, lol God sent brea
from heaven, the bread of the stron
and the unfaltering, and that bread i
the bread of the Eucharist. which /
no other than Christ Himself, with Hi
body, blood. soul and divinity; and h
who sits down to eat of that brea
finds himself inter- penetrated with tn
strength of Christi. e., of God Him
self
Armed with that vigor, upheld b
that unconquerable hand. what is Their
to dismay man. He will be safe, n
matter by what enemies he may be as
saulted, whether it be in the Babylon
ian furnace of passion or in the de
of lions with wild beasts about him t
pluck from his soul it's true life an
to rend to pieces the peerless rain1en
of his immortal soul. Fed on tn
bread of the Eucharist that came fror
heaven, mans soul nestles in the sol
of Christ, the blood of Christ flow
in his veins; his heart is at rest 0
the infinitely sympathetic heart {
Christ and body and blood and sot
commingling with the body and bloc
and soul of man are all fortified b
the impregnable divinity of the God
head.
only such food as that, my dea
friends, could be prepared in HEAVIER
by God, and in His infinite mercy fun
nished 10 US. And now, having briefi
considered the strength of ths
divine bread. what about the delight
that 1t holds. Are they wort
the sacrifices we are called upon
make? Will they repay our efforts
This to me seems a useless question
What is the one great delight of II
man who, inspired by the dictates
his faith, contends successfully again
the allurements of life? No music
this world is sweeter than the mu
muir of the still, small voice of col
science when it approves to a man h
thoughts his words, his deeds; wht
ii enables him to see, without theret
clarifying himself, that his dignity
r a man and a Christian is preserved,
. lets him know that he is keeping h
manhood intact, that he is not herdir
IL with lower nature, and enabling hi
- =.