The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1914-05-15
MOTHERS DAY
I'M Sundays Daily:

The C2JnOllc CHuTcn iOHS SlhCC OCT
aside the beautiful mor:h of May for
special devotion to Mary, the Mother
of Jesus.
Referring to this custom, Mr.. Lecky,
the historian, in his work, entit.e ed,
"Rationalism in Europe" pays the fol-
lowing tribute to the custom:
"The moral charms and beauty of
| female excellence were for the first
time felt. A new type of character
was called into being; new kind CT
admiration was fostered. Into harsh,
Ignorant and benighted age, this ideal
type infused a conception of gentle
ness and purity unknown to the proud
est generations of the past. In the
pages of loving tenderness which
many a monkish writer has left IN
honor of the celestial patron; in the
millions who, in many lands and in
many ages, have sought. with no bar
Iren desire, to mould their chara' ters
Into her image; in those holy maidens
who, for love of Mary, have separat-
ed themselves from all the glories and
pleasures of the world, to seek, IN
Hastings and vigils and humble chari-
| ty, to render themselves worthy OF
her benediction, in the new sense of
Honor, In the chivalrous respect, in
the softening of manners, in the re-
lfnement of tastes displayed in all the
walks of society-in these and IN
lmany other ways we detect its inf1u-
ence. All that was best in Europe
clustered around it, and it is the orr
gin of many of the purest elements of
our civilization"
Referring to the custom, Father
Burke, the great Irish pulpit orator,
pays to the custom the following elo-
quent tribute. He beautifully says:
"Marys appearance in this world
was like the morning star when in the
morning, after the darkness and tenn
ipest of the night, the sailor standing
upon the prov of the ship, looks
around to find the eastern point of
the horizon, and he sees, suddenly ris-
| ing cut of the eastern wave, silver
star, beautiful in its pure beauty,
trembling as if it were a living thing.
And he knows that there is the east,
for this is the morning star. He
knows that precisely at that point, in
la few moments; the sun will rise in all
his splendOr, and he knows that the
sun is coming, because the herald
that proclams the sun has risen. The
morning star proclaims to the wild
wanderer on the deep, in the eastern
horizon, the advent of the coming day.
So with us, upon the wild and angry
waves of sin and of error, and of
Gods anger and curse, our poor hui
mainly, shipWrecked in the Garden
|of Eden; our poor humanity, without
even the wreck left to us of the Sac
rament of Penance; our poor human
ity, cropping in the sacrifices and in
the oblations of the world for the love
|of God, the Redeemer, the day-star.
whose light was to illumine the dark
ness of the world-behold, suddenly,
the morning star rises, the pale
trembling, silver beauty of Mary"
In imitation of this custom of pur-
ity and sweetness we have set aside
the second Sunday in May as Moth
er's Day." and on this day through
out the ages we shall meet together
to pay special homage and devotion
to the mothers of men.
Those who have mothers know how
to value them. They know to what
heights they will climb and to what
depths they will descend for the sake
of the erring boy or girl.
eff were hanged on the highest hill
II know whose feet would follow me
still.
Mother o. mine, mother o. mine
eff were drowned in the deepest
| know whose tears would come down
to me.
Mother O. mine, mother O. mine.
eff I ere damned of body and soul,
II know whose prayers would make
me whole.
Mother o. mine, mother O. NINE"
The boy or the girl who is blessed
with this best gift of God knows, be-
cause they have measured the height
and depth and tenderness of her love,
but how about the boy or the girl who
in infancy was deprived of the tender
ness and devotion of this sweet angel
of mercy? The very absence of this
love, the hunger for it, causes them
! to measure its boundlessness more
accurately and to appreciate it's value
more highly.
The writer of these lines never re-
members mothers kiss and fond
embrace or a fathers benediction-
in all of his childhood his lips never
came in contact with the lips of af-
/ lection, yet he remembers how his
soul hungered for them.
1t is the motherless child who
| knows that the mother is jewel be-
oil ,f[ win nd Haxun,.