The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1914-12-12

souA AeelS the reacllOn or terr0rS and
forebodings, and sometimes despair.
Our souls are made for God alone, and
He alone can save them. No, it is not
this poor perishing earth that is des.
tined to be united forever to the soul
of man, but. the Spirit of the infinite
God-united in Justice, and poace, and
joy ii the Holy Ghost" from. 14:17.)t
Ard that Spirit of God you will find.
dwelling in your innermost soul if you
will turn away from worldly things
and seek for Him there.
There your prayers place you in the
divine heart itself; there in your own
Immortal soul is the heavenly Father
that created you; the loving Redeem
er that died for you; the Holy Spirit
that sanctifies you. After thus COM
mun1ng with God in your interior
you may turn to the same God in your
outward life, In good confession the
Blood Of Jesus Christ cleanses away
your Sins, and bestows upon you the
Spirit of holy fear and of trustful love.
Holy Communion gives you the human
ity of the Son of God in real and per-
feet possession, making your life His
own. After such intimate contact
with the Deity Itself, how different
will this passing show of world
seem. You will then better understand
our Lords description of it's final dis
truction; and you can exclaim joy
fully with the prophet: Il beheld the
earth, and 10! it was void and moth
ing; and the heavens. and there was
no light in them" Ger iv. 23).
Once a sinful young man had an in
terview with St. Philip Neri. The
Saint looked intently at him, and he
read the sad state of his soul as he
would read a book-and then he burst
into tears. The young man was aston
ished and much distressed. But st.
Philip tenderly embraced him, and
said to him: 90 my son! do not re-
sist the Holy Ghost; God wishes to
save you" He was moved to repent
anoe and made his confession, and
was no doubt saved. So does Holy
Church always treat us and speak to
us, but especially during Advent
Shall we not hearken to her exhorta-
tlons? But such advice is not seldom
rejected, whether given by the Church
through her priest, or by ones own
friends; hated. Whom does a deliri-
GUS sick man most hate? The very
| physician and nurse who are striving
to save his life. There are men in
this parish who are so deliri us with
wickedness, that, although they may
not cherish hate, yet they have posi-
tive aversion for the faithful friends
who have for years striven in vain to
save them from eternal death. And
worse yet, they meanwhile have posi-
tive affection for those companions
whose whole influence is exerted to
hinder their eternal salvation.
In case where your limbs, health,
body, life, are at stake, you hesitate
not moment; you value nothing in
comparison. No power on earth can
prevent you; you must preserve your
body from destruction. o how diff
ferent when it is question of your
soul, forbidden society, a sinful Gus
tom of amusement. Even now you
may be holding back from what you
know to be the only true faith of
Christ for the sake of pleasing your
family They are preferred to the pres
ervation Of your soul from destruc-
ton Wonderful, deplorable blindness!
Such eagerness, such industry, such
energy about perishable things, often
the merest triffes; such Indifference to
ones best and highest interests. This
is that same spiritual paralysis which
our Lord bewailed in the Jews: For
the heart of this people is grown
gross, and with their ears they have
been dull of hearing, and their eyes
they have shut; lest at any time they
should see with their eyes, and hear
with their ears, and understand with
their hearts, and be converted, and
should heal them" Matt. xiii. 15). We
once overheard two friends saying
their goodbye: to each other as they
parted, and one of them added these
words: BE good to yourself" This
is not religious expression, my
brethren, but it surely is sound sense:
Be good to yourself. And who is so
good to himself as one who saves his
soul from eternal pain? We have put
to add Christian word or two to
make tia perfect salutatlon: Be good
to yourself, and pray God to be good
to you.
When the Apostles were in danger
of shipwreck, they cried out, Lord,
save us; we perish" Matt. viii, 25).
So may each of us pray to Him, all
the time, for danger is seldom far off !:
20 Lord Jesus Christ, save me, save
my soul. 1t is more Thine than mine,
for Thou hast created it and died for
it. o now l beseech Thee to save it
| from the many enemies who are
striving to wreck Tiny evil passions,
the follies of the world, the snares of
the DEVIL 81 am Thine, save Thou
me-" Cps. cxvii:94.) "Arise, why
sleepest Thou, o Lord? Arise and
cast us not off to the end. Why
turnest Thou Thy face away and for
gettest our want and our trouble? For
our soul is humbled down to the
dust" Cps. xiii, 23-25). Let such
prayers as these inspired words, my
brethren, be on your lips and in your
hearts these days of preparation for
our Lords coming among us to save
u.s.
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