The Irish standard., 1904-11-26

| saints. May his soul return thither
whence it descended. where it cannot
feel the sting of death. l
loved him, and therefore will follow
him, even unto the land of the living.
Nor will leave him until, by tears
and prayers, l shall lead him
unto the holy mountain Of the Lord,
where is life undying, where corrup-
ton is not, nor signing, nor mourning
st. Augustine, who lived in the be-
ginning of the fifth century, relates
that when his mother was at the point
of death she had made this last re-
quest to him: Lay this body any
where; let not the care of it in any
way disturb you. This only request
of you, that you would remember me
ut the altar of the Lord, wherever you
be-
eff brother leaves you to cross the
broad Atlantic, religion and affection
prompt you to pray for him during his
absence. And if the same brother
crosses the narrow sea of death to pass
to the shores of eternity, why not pray
for him then also? When he crosses
the Atlantic his soul, imprisoned in the
flesh, is absent from you; when he
passes the sea of death his soul, re-
leased from the flesh, has gone from
VOL, What d;fforopoo .looe +b;s ,,,,l,o
with regard to the duty for your in
tercession? For what is death? A
mere separation of body and soul The
body, indeed, dies, but the soul lives
and moves and has it's being 1t con-
tinues after death, as before, to think,
to remember, to love. And do not
Gods dominion and mercy extend over
that soul beyond the grave as we'll as
this side Of it? Who shall place limits
to Gods empire and say to Him: Thus
far shalt Thou go and no fartherT
Two thousand years after Abraham's
death our Lord said: I am the God of
Abraham, of Isaac and Of Jacob. He
is not the God of the dead but of the
living
'If, then, it is profitable for YOU to
pray for your brother in the flesh, why
should it be useless for you to pray
for him out of the flesh? For while he
was living you prayed not for his
body, but for his soul.
eff this brother of yours dies with
some slight stains upon his soul, a sin
of impatfence, for instance, or an idle
word, is he fit to enter heaven with
these blemishes upon his soul? No;
the sanctity of God forbids it, for
nothing defiled shall enter the king
dom of heaven Will you consign him
for these minor transgressions to eter-
nal torments with adulterers and muir
derers? No; the justice and mercy Of
God forbid it. Therefore, your COM
mon sense demands Il middle place Of
expiation for these transgressions of
the soul before he is worthy of enjoy
ing the companionship of God and His
saints.
God will render to every man ac-
cording to his works. to the pure and
unslllied, everlasting bliss; to the rep
rebate, eternal damnation; to souls
stained with minor faults, a place of
temporary purgation.
II have seen devoted daughter
minister with tender solicitude ut the
sick bed Of Il fond parent Many an
anxious day and sleepless night did
she watch at his bedside. She moisten-
ed the parcllcd lips and cooled the
fcvcred brow and raised the dropping
head on its pillow. Every change in
her patient for better or worse brought
Il corresponding sunshine or gloom to
her heart. 1t was 1ilial love that
prompted all this. Her father died
and she followed the remains to the
grave. Though not Catholic stand
Ing by the bier, she burst those chains
Which cruel religious prejudice had
wrought aro.lnd her heart, and, rising
superior to her sect, she cried out:
Lord have mercy on his SOUL 1t was
the voice of nature and of religion.
"Oh, far from us religion which
would decree an eternal divorce be-
tween the living and the dead! How
consoling it is to the Catholic to think
that in praying thus for his departed
friend his prayers are not in violation
OF. but In accordance with, the voice
of the church, and that as, like Au-
sustine, he watches at the pillow Of a
dying mother, so, like Augustine, he
can continue the same Office of piety
for her soul after she is dead by pray
ing for her! How cheering the refec-
ton that the golden link of prayer
unites you still to those who fell
asleep in the Lord and that you can
still speak to them and pray for them
'Tennyson grasps the Catholic feel
ing when he makes his hero, whose
course is run, thus address his surviv-
ing comrade, Sir Bedivere:
have lived my life, and that which 1
| have done
May He within Himself make pure;
but thou