The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1914-10-03

WHICH WIZ are Nu1tS W11l1uS " give
up everything for the souls of men,
those religious women of the hos
pitfalls and the battlefields, who go
without the hope of any earthly re-
ward, nameless-Sister Mary, Sister
Jane, Sister Margaret-having left
their family names behind them in
obscurity, giving their all for Christ.
And now there comes rolling over
my soul wave of indignation. Were
to give way to it, would say: God
Almighty hurl Thy thunderbolts upon
them from the highest heavens; let
the fire consume those sacreligious
men who dare to la va hand upon
Thy sanctuary, and contaminate the
Spouses of Christ in nations not far
from here" All! But spake I thus,
should not know the spirit that
ought to be within me. should
rather say: "No! God have mercy!
Jesus have mercy! Have mercy upon
this miserable Sustained world that
knows not Thee, that knows not
charity. Thy justice shall find them
out, and the day Of reckoning is at
hand; but. oh God. temper Thy JUS
tice by Thy mercy"
Meanwhile let us enter into that
spirit that animates the priesthood
and the religious orders of the
Church, and endeavor to render our
Charity practical in thought by
thinking well of all; in word, by
speaking we'll of all; and in deed, by
never allowing an opportunity to
pass of practicing that God-like vir-
tue Of charity, even if in order to do
so we should have to place ourselves
in the background and make sac
rifice, for true christian charity is
self-sacrificing, as the charity of
Jesus Christ was.
How did Christ love us? Having
loved His own who were in the world,
he loved them to the end. There was
no compromise; there was no going
halfway; there was no saying, II
have done enough now; cannot do
any more" He loved them to the
end. Oh, Christ, give us some of
that charity. Give us drop of that
Divine essence that we, too, may go
on like heroes on the road to the
Cross, sacrificing ourselves for the
love of others. He loved men that
were ungrateful to him. He tells us
that there is no greater love than
to lay down your life for your
friends; but what of laying down
your life for your enemies? He died
for his enemies. He loved people
whom he knew to be ungrateful. His
eye looked forward through the dark
mists of the future. and He saw how
His kindness would be repaid and
how, in spite of His words and in
structions, in spite of all His doc
trine. the day would come in the be-
ginning of the twentieth century Of
light, after people for generations
had been talking peace. when civil
lied nations Of mankind, like hyenas,
like wolves, like tigers. nay like
demons from the realms Of darkness.
would be cutting each others
threats. He saw that. Did He hest
tate? Did He say to Himself: what
is the use of shedding my blood for
such degenerate mass of mankind,
for such a polluted lot of flesh?"
No! No! He hesitated not in His
love. He assembled the mountain,
where He died. Having loved His
own who were in the world. He loved
them to the end, with unbounded
charity. Do likewise. You need not
imagine that you will always receive
gratitude for your benefactions.
Sometimes those benefits which you
have conferred upon the unworthy
will be forgotten. But you are not
working for gratitude; you are not
working for worldly recompense.
You are working for God. 1t may
be that there are enemies who pass
through your life. Christ demands
the heroism of charity.
Father" he said, forgive them,
for they know not what they do"
He prays for his enemies, and so He
teaches us to Love even our enc
mics, even those that hurt and re-
vile, and calumniate us, and that
strike us in the tenderest spots, I'M
dermining our reputation or thirst
ing for our blood. You may oppose
the enemies of the Church, in the
spirit of the Church that teaches us
to pray for the humiliation of her
enemies, when you are in position
to do so, or in an office that re-
quests it; but for your personal enc
mics have nothing but love, nothing
but charity, nothing but kindness, as
Jesus had.
s Again, do all that you can, in or
der to fill the world with greater
kindness. oh. It is so sad to think