The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1905-02-04

in inaccessible light" Now we know
that God is on our altar.
We adorn the altar with flowers.
But man could easily continue to exist
without the floral world. Flowers do
not sustain the body, neither are they
required by the mind. So it seems rs
if God, having created the world, and
having placed thereon what was neces-
sary to our existence, said will give
man something more than what is &C.
tually required, and He threw in flow
ers, the most beautiful gift of all, as a
testimony of how good and generous
and munificent Master is our Gre
ator. We on our side wish to initiate
his generosity by surrounding His
dwelling place with these bright treas
ures of the field. This that God may
know that we are willing to give not
only the service that He demands, but
even at the sacrifice of pleasure we
will not refuse to relinquish enjoyment
when the surrender helps us toward
salvation.
The church is Gods house, where
His living friends may come, but
where departed ones are not forgotten.
For just as your homes retain remem-
brances of friends and relatives who
have died, in the form of portraits and
photographs of the departed, so Gods
house gives place to the statues and
pictures Of the saints who are our rel
atives in religion.
In consideration for us He has
stripped Himself of His luminous glory
| lest the sight Of it's splendor might
strike us dead-as was said: mo man
can gaze upon God and live" In graf
itude to God for this condescension we
seek, though with feeble effort, to Gre
| ate with the artificial means at our
command an abode of light to serve
our God as a dwelling. We surround
the tabernacle with candles and tapers
whose tongues af flame whisper to God
and ask Him to disregard the imper-
fections in the design, but only to con-
slider the faith which attempts to give
some outward expression to the
thought that the Godhead should be
invested with brightest glory. This is
| the central idea of adjoining the altar
with candles. But the presence Of
these lights may bear many another
Interpretation. In the language of
symbol light is faith and hope and
love-
So the lights on our affairs are SYM
bols, or signs, of the belief, the trust,
the charity which are centered in the
Lord about whom the candles encircle.
The heat which the flame emits is the
ardent personal affection which bruins
| in our soul for Christ, the loving Saw
Tor. The substance of the candles, If
wax, the distilled beauty of the flower,
Is the Offering of self, made to God by
our honor, our greatness, our distinc-
ton; if not wax, the whitened form
tells of the virginia. purity which we
shall cndeavor to keep unsullied for a
clean oblation to our heavenly Bride
groom. AS the candles weep down
waxen tears we are murmuring to God
acts of SORROW for the sins we have
committed. When the candle is Mt last
consumed, we are begging the Savior
to be near us ut the end when death
blows out the light of the present life
and usllers the soul into the shadowy
land of the eternal future.
God does not wish us to forget those
who have gone beyond the dividing line
twiNt the present and tile hereafter
He wishes us to remember how many
they were forced to combat against
the sclf-same foes that we are called
! upon to encounter. The temptations
that besct our path; the discourage
nehtS that rOugllcn our way; the ills
anu woes that Strrw the road with sad
ness, were incidents in their career as
they are occurrences in our experience
The Lord desires that we should know
that we may overcome the obstacles
by initiating their example. So the
Church keeps their memory fresh in
our minds by displaying their represent
tatons in places of worship. If it is
right to initiate the virtues of these
holy souls, il it is helpful to entertain
toward them Il warm affection, then
must we preserve the memory of their
deeds and create this affection in our
hearts by the same means that serve
to keep other friends alive in thought
though they may be dead in vision. AS
pictures, photographs, statues, souve-
Mrs, bring departed relatives near
even after the lapse of years, so the
statues, images, relics Of the saints re-
call them to our presence after the
passing of ages.
And when we gaze upon these WIS.,
ible shapes, the thought within us is
stirred to recall the actions which
made the originals worthy of honor.
We are reminded of the bliss they now
enjoy and we are spurred on to emu
late their example. If we pray before
the statue Of the saint it is not to cold
marble or painted wood we address our
words, as some. of our non-Catholic
friends falsely imagine If kiss the