Los Angeles herald., 1907-12-26
BISHOP coNATY ADDRESSES A
LARGE CONGREGATION
CATHEDRAL BELLS OPEN DAY
WITH CHIMES
ST. vibiana's Scene of Beautiful cere'
monies, and Great Crowds Of Wor-
shippers Gather to Hear
Sermons

masses. ana again last ulBhb eAAS Ne@eAAo~
raj was thronged with a large congrega-
tion to hear Bishop Conaty preach.
At ( o'clock the stiffness of the morn
ing was broken with the cathedral chime
bells, ringing out the glad tidings Al
that hour Rt Rev. Mgr. Harnett, V. u.
celebrated solemn mass and preacned
the sermon Monsignor Harnetts sermon
was a mastery oration on the divinity OF
the child whose birth was observed III
the services.
At 10:30 O. clock Bishop Conaty celebrated
pontifical mass, and last night at the
solemn vesper service preached the ser
mon.
The bishop took for his text, "Behold
bring you good tidings of great JOY that
shall be to all the people: For this day is
horn to YOU a Saviour who is Christ tbs
Lord, in the city Of David"
He said in part:
"This message of the angel to the shep-
herds of .Tudea on that first Christmas
night proclaimed to all the world the full
fllment of the promise that God would
send Redeemer to save his people 1t is
a message of the wonderful love and
mercy of God toward his creatures
Christmas is the fulfllment of prophecy,
the highest expression of divine forgive
ness 1t contains the foundation mystery
Saviour whose sacrifice is to be the atone
ment for sin and whose love is to bring
mankind back to God, and thus realize
mans eternal destiny.
The First Christmas
"Our thought leads us to the first
Christmas and from it to the beginnings
of mankind, when, to repair the sin OF
man, God promised a Redeemer. The
4L.,rNt 80 (tbrtctYoo bac haop fha motive.
principle in all that stands for religion,
for 1t has given to man faith and hope Ia
God promised pardon and made atone
ment certain
.In the hope of regaining the inher-
fance which has been lost by sin, men
lived in the light of the Christmas to
come.
1.-THE Christ-child of the Christmas
night was the one promised to Adam, 10
crush the serpent's head; it was the
source of all grace, and the one means
by which the love of God was brought
into the lives of men and man by ts
grace lifted up to union with his God.
This Christ-child is the Son of God.
for of him the eternal Father said: Thou
art my Son; before the day star 1 begot
thee The resurrection was to prove to
men that in him was the omnipotence IF
divinity Tile Christ-child is the son OF
man. for assuming our humanity he be-
came man that by the union of the two
natures Christ the Son of God made man
suffer and die for our sins.
'He began his earthly life in Bethle-
hem, but he was with Adam and Noah.
with Abraham, Moses and David He
was the Messiah of promise, prehgured
and typified.
Key to All History
''He is the key to all history, solving all
the riddles of life: take him out of the life
of mankind and the mysteries of religion
fail to be understood. He alone explains
the Old Testament, the people of Israel
and Christianity. He is something more
than a great figure, an apostolic man of
Galilee. We must never lose sight of the
great fact that Christ, the child of Beth
lehem, is the Saviour of the world, the
Saviour not of few nor a time or place,
but the Saviour of all mankind of ali
time and all nations-Jew and Gentle,
Greek, Roman and barbarian, the rich
and poor. the ignorant and the learned,
the bondman and the freeman. He is the
one Saviour, the only Son of God, the one
mediator. by whose blood we have been
redeemed. The spirit of evil has tried
to destroy him, nations have conspired
against him, but he has conquered all
because he is the incarnate Son of God.
christmas day brings to us the great
gift of Jesus Christ, who by his incarna-
tion becomes the redeemer of mankind
Christmas day has a strong human side
to it, for it presents to us a child in
whom weakness, poverty and the lowliest
conditions of humankind seem to pre-
dominate. That first Christmas night
presents scene of suffering and priva-
ton. and yet there is about the sufferer
a halo Of happiness and joy which has
cast its rays into the lives of men and
has made Christmas the synonym Of uni
versal peace and happiness.
Hear Angels Sing
eve hear the angel choirs singing their
gloria, we see the shepherds offering
their simple alteration, we watch the CEN
turies as they turn to Bethlehem to give
intelligence and life to that child of
Bethlehem in whom they worship the
mystery of Gods love in the redemption
of mankind. recognizing that child as the
Messiah, the Emmanuel, whose sepulcher
is to be glorious and whose resur-
rection is to prove the divinity which lies
hidden Under the poverty and suffering
of the night Of his birth in Bethlehem
christmas night and the Christ-chlid
are determining factors in the life of the
world. We cannot read the religious
of the world to this very Christmas night
without feeling that the Christ-child Is
the greatest figure in all history. Man
kind in all his wanderings from the primi-
tive truth has never completely forgotten
belief in the great sin, and hope in the
great redemption. In myth and fable
the heather races, even in their most de-
graded forms have chung to some frag-
ment of truth in the fall of man by sin
and in his redemption through a saviour.
One Dominant Thought
t'The Old Testament which contains the
annals of the Hebrew people to whom God
made special revelations. either directly
by himself or Indirectly through patriarch
or prophet, has but one great dominant
thought, and it is that of the Messiah
1t was the one idea in their sacrifice, II
was the one Inspiration through all Their
life, whether Of glory or of captivity,
the Messiah to come. the son of David
born Of the virgin in Bethlehem, at the
completion of the weeks of Daniel.
'tDacid in his psalms sang mighty
prophecies of his power and his mercy
and the great personages of the Old Tes
lament were strongest as types and fig
ufes of the Saviour to come.
.The mother of the Christ-ehi1d WAS