Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1910-08-18
Father o,ponnsn.. Address.

Father O'DonnelI's Address.
Monday in the Roman Catholic church
being the Assumption Of the Blessed Vir
gin, or the festival in honor OF the ascent
OF the Virgin Mary into heaven, Wal
made the occasion of an interesting ed
dress on the attitude of the church
toward the Virgin by the Rev. Father
O'Donnell, who spoke to an audience o.
over a hundred, including moi a few
Protestants.
The church, be said, venerates and rev.
erences the Mother OF Christ, but does
not worship her. Worship belongs tc
Christ alone. He is first and foremost,
There is no one who can take the place
Of our beloved Lord and Master, around
whom ~revolves pious adulation and every
good thought, as around the sun revolve
the heavenly bodies.
Next to Christ the church places Mary,
His Holy Mother, who would naturally
stand next to her son. II we consult our
own hearts, where would we place the
mothers who bore us, il not in honor at
our right hand. They brought IS into
the world, they nourished US and their
blood flows in our veins. From the very
beginning God conceived Mary in his
mind to give birth to His Divine Son, Sc
lected her from all the women Of the ages TO
be the mother of the Savior OF the World.
We can picture her as she knelt in prayer
and received the inspired message of the
archangel, "Fear not, Mary behold, thou
hast found grace with God; thou shalt
conceive in thy womb and shalt bring
forth a child and shalt call his name
Jesus
She bore that son, the Redeemer OF all
mankind, and the blood that was shed on
Calvary's mount, that dripped from the
sacred brow under the crown OF thorns
and flowed from the pierced side. was In
one sense the blood of Mary. She bore
Him in poverty, Graded Him in straw
and reared Him in the poor home Of the
carpenter, Joseph, with whom He labored
for their daily bread. In the years OF
His boyhood, who treasured all his say
ings in her heart; when He went into the
world on His blessed mission, who stood
closest to Him, dearer than His disciples
and friends 2-who but his most holy
mother. It was at her request that He
performed his first miracle at the mar
riage in Cana of Galilee. and when she
kneIt at the foot OF the cross He COM
mended her to the care OF the faithful
John.
AS she is the mother Of Christ, so she is,
in a spiritual sense, the mother OF US
all, and that is her position in the Catho-
lie church. st. John represented the
whole world at the foot Of the cross,
when the crucihed Christ said unto him
"son, behold thy mother" And to her
He said, "Mother, behold thy on" She
was to take the world TO her heart as her
children, andwe may GO TO Der as to a
motherand ask for her intercession in our
behalf. Wonderful indeed is the influence
of a mother over her son, and more won
derful is the influence OF Mary with
Christ in heaven. There she is we know
for wherever Christ is, there is Mary, His
mother, for He loved her and took her up
into heaven, body and soul, to that home
beyond the skies which all are desirous to
enter.
Proof OF her ascension is the fact that
her body was never found although dill
gent search was made IN all the cata-
combs and cemeteries. Christ took her
to Himself to be Queen OF Heaven and
mother OF the world. The Bible reveals
the position that Mary holds and FREE
quent reading of the Bible is the duty of
practical Catholics. There is an enron
eous idea entertained by some that the
keeps the Bible from the people
but this is not 50. She want them to
read II and to read it frequently. In ages
past she had to chain the Bible to pre-
serve it from the robbers who in those
~trouhlous times would have stolen and
mutilated it and destroyed the sacred
scriptures that the church bias treasured
and, guarded against all dangers, has
handed down to modern Christendom.