The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1909-05-01

~ short sermon: lots OF sentiment and
emotion In the Methodist; freouentlv
a dignified and scholarly discourse in
tho Presbytcrian; and in the rJnitsrt.
an a lecture of the intellectual phi,o-
Sophical kind. most attractive of all
TO me then) as 7 was reading Her.
bert Spencer, feeling myself very
wise III consequence and deciding that
temperamentally | was non religious.
So fart was about twenty-three-
had found in the non Catholic world
ethics. aesthetics, society, emotions
sentiment and Aenostical philosophy.
defined theological system, explain-
ing the creation. fall and redemntton
ct man: together with his sanctifica-
ton by means of q Church and s.cr.
hlents' know not as should. until by
the merest chance I came i'm contact
with Catholics fortunately represents
ative ones) and the Catholic Church
Inns was in New York city where 4
had come to live. I had given up Her
bert Spencer blythe way not as mem
tally llninteresting but morally unsat-
isfying. my heart AS well as nv head
ilHd begun to crave food. A little book
by tho late Professor Drumn1ond, "Tha
Greatest Thing in the World" fell
into my hands at the psycbo]ogical
moment. Hitherto had not been {.
gay or dissipated fellow especially,
but an out-and- out worldIng amhi-
tlous ahovc all else, within the bounds
OF honor and honesty. to make money.
to be Il. successful man from the
worldly point Of view. before men, in
foro extorno; thenceforth. with a
happy inspiration like a. rebirth of
soul, determined to be a good man,
to find my happiness in love, in the
charity as described by ST. Paul in the
xiii chapter of his First Epistle tn the
Corinthians. and as analyzed by
Drummond. capital idea in itself
and pleasing to youth. but not easily
realized except in the ardent in,agi-
J.
was never that. thank God because
1t means tho daily. nay. the hourly
practice Of patience. patience which
is charity's first ingredient. Charity
snffereth long and is patient. One
must he patient in order to be kind.
tried and tried, again and again,
No moral discipline experienced since.
even In the six years of a seminary
at Rome, can compare with that
practiced upon my own soul at this
period of my life. Soon j felt the need
! then expressed jt) outside myself,
which would sustain and supplement
my own efforts at spiritual Develop
ment. So was confirmed in the Epis-
copal Church, by way Of experiment.
About this time T. happened to form
n friendship with Il young man in
| many ways congenial, and a Catholic,
practically the first 7 had ever known.
We talked Church a good deal, since
rather keen in the subject. ! went to
Mass with him once or twice on Sun
day-to Solemn High Mass. 1t was
about as interesting as Chinese puz-
zIe and quite as understandable. 1 de-
ternined mainly from motives of curl
osity, to find out what it was all about.
And + dfd-thank God, I did found
o,lt what the Holy Sacrament of the
| Mass meant, the idea of it ALL the
| Blessed Sacrament with Christ really.
objectively present on the altar. Here
was love indeed! Love only the heart
| Of a God could conceive, only the om-s
impotence of a God effect. Here was
| God not as an abstract idea but con-
crete reality; God Incarnate. Divine
and Human, and never more divine
than when most human. God living
and dying not only at Jerusalem nine-
teen. hundred years ago but here, HE
t:.nutc; every. day and every hour !.