The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1908-06-13

taketh away the sins of the world -
1t Is the same today. Some are seorot,
ing for Him only in the records nc ne
ways with men, many are hOnino 70
llnd him in another world. There oro
some busily engaged describing His &c
He was or as He will be, but then faiI
completely IN their search when #
comes to seeing His as He is. They do
not stop to think we need God today ~
our homes, in our school-rooms il, ~, -,
streets. Strange to say. these ,.o,,I,
men and women who see so LITTLE VI
they look towards Christ seem To -
hlgh-poWer magnifying lenses i'm their
eye-Sockets when they gaze at earthly,
thlngs. In their individual .sto,~,,
sea- they view Christ as a obostI,,
thlng' but on the other hand. the lash,
ing storm is intensely real to them
100 real, alas: the high winds are raa1
uIe waves, rising mountain-like are
. - ouI ohriSt' walking peacefully on
sorrows sea, is only phantom.
The devotion of the Sacred Heart ,,o
verses this sad state of affairs II -
1hrlSt our real, living. breathing
frlehu; whereas the storm becomes less
zeal II takes holiness out of the re
slon OF cold abstraction and clothes II
win mesh and blood: opens un for il
! the shortest and broadcast way to all o,,,.
Sympathies, and gives it the firr1es+
Lola on all the springs of human 40
tioh- Yes, the full realization of tba
loNe OF Jesus Christ for me. and NV full
ielurn OF personal love for Him: this
i the true devotion to the Sao,,o5
Heart. 1t is this that transforms ,'i i,,d IL
Vldual character, to know that He ie
oy my side; it is this that makes His
! voice sweet TO my ears-it is His voice
however harsh its accents might 9th
erWlse sound; it is this that solves tbe
mighty problems that are confronting
US on all sides, for His personal love is
impaired to the hard-handed son of
toll beside me, just as it is to me.
why is there, in point of fact. so
| nuch unrest around about US? WHY is
the number of suicides increasing 50
rapidly IN our country? More than ten
thousand last year; ten thousand men
and women like ourselves, whom Christ
loved with a personal love, just as He
loves US. Why did they conclude that
NE was not worth living? All, it was
only because they had not been taught
TO bring home to themselves the great
central fact, that Christ really meant
what he said when he uttered for all
time those most consoling words.
Come TO Me, all We that labor and are
burdened, and l will refresh YOU
John ll:3O 1t was because these men
and women had accepted the vain
teachlng OF the so-called advanced
thinkers of the day, that man is only
wandering molecule of sorrow. in a
world of dreams" and that God is only
one Of those dreams projected upon
nothlngness.' 1t was because they had
oeen endeaVoring TO satisfy their i'm
mortal souls with a mere life of science
or art, or literature or politics or
Worse-of crime, and their sad ending
only proved mans inability to appease
with finite husks the infinite hunger
within him. Meantime our Blessed
Lord was repeating and repeating with
the monOtony of love: Come to Me.
A mother might forget her child, but
could never forget you.
Blessed is he" saws the book of F,c-
clesiasticus, who findeth true
friend and although this is verified
even in human friendship, for a true
human friend is indeed mighty bless
ing. still it attains its full and perfect
realization only when The friend is
Christ the Lord-in the devotion to His
Sacred Heart. 1t has been truly said
by a recent writer, that 1.-THE very
breakdown of human friendship often
leads out to larger and more perrna-
nent love. All human intercourse.
necessarily be fra gmentary and partial.
We must, each of us, discover that
there is an infinite in us, which only the
infinite can match and supply. Man. it |
is true. is capable of the highest heights |
of love: but man can never take the |
place Of God, and without God life is |
shorn of its glory and Invested of its |
real meaning"
The limitations and losses of earthly |
friendship" continues the same writer |
ARE meant to drive US to the higher |
friendship. Life is an education in love- |
but the education is not complete till |
we have learned to love the Eternal"
The devotion to the Sacred Heart is |
this education in practice. The test |
of true love is action: IF you love Me, I
keep my commandments"
When the little maiden of Nazareth |
gave her answer to the message of in |
finite love brought to her by the angel, |
she summed up in that answer the
practical part of the devotion to the
Sacred Heart: BE it done according
to Thy word" When St Paul turned |
from hate to love, and from an enemy
became friend of Jesus Christ, his .
first words had the same clear ring to
them as those of the Blessed Virgins:
Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?"
In both cases action included great |
suffering for Christ.
FINALLY, the friendship of Christ is
not stopepd by death which destroys so
many of this earth's strongest ties.
The friendship of Christ overlaps the
years and the grave, and provided we,
on our part, do not deliberately wreck
this glorious friendship, we shall be
able to exclaim even as st. Paul did:
i am sure that neither death nor life,
nor angels nor principalities, nor pow
ers, nor things present, nor things to
come. nor heighth nor depth, nor any I
other creature shall be able to sepa-
rate MS from the love Of God, which is
in Christ Jesus. our ord."-William
OBJ. Pardow, S. j., in Messenger of the
Sacred Heart.
Always Cheerful.
g.. .i..,n 900 thnro was 2 food in !