The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1915-01-02
THE INFANT JESUS.

''OnIy a little Infant" says The
Catholic Record OF London, Ont, "has
ever securely held the heart of our
common humanity. From the lowly
Manager He rules the courses of the
stars and the workings of the human
heart His viii makes and keeps the
harmony of the universe, shakes OFF
right from wrong, robs death Of its
sting, gives to life an eternal worth,
crowns our common humanity with
glory just less than angelic. Enthron-
ed upon that pure and innocent altar
of the crib His Infant dignity compels
forever the love and devotion of
countless millions who see with the
inner eye of faith His Respondent Di-
vlnity and know by the higher instinct
OF love that in Him arc set all the
hopes of humanity-Jesus Christ, yes
terday, today, and the same forever. J"
We believe with firm faith that
Jesus is the Son Of God, that He is
God even as is the Father, and by this
He is always infinitely wise, infinitely
mighty: on the other hand, we read in
Child, and that He grew, in age, in
grace, in wisdom. Here we meet one
of the mysteries involved in the great
central mystery Of the incarnation; TO
our minds. the Divine Infant is myS-
terry, but to our hearts He is mystery
of Divine love. In Mary's arms He ap-
pears to us as Bossuet has painted
Him:
Thou lovely Babe! Happy were
they who gazed upon Thee, stretching
forth Thy arms from out the sWad-
ding bands, lifting up little fingers to
caress Thy holy Mother; now, upheld
by her firm hands, adventuring Thy
first little steps; now practising Thy
baby-tongue with stammering of the
praise Of God, Thy Father! | worship
Thee, dear Child, at every stage of
Thy divine growth, calling for Mother
Mary in the feeble voice of Infancy,
reposing in her bosom, clasped in her
warm arnlS!'
When the Divine Babe Of bethlehem
reached mans estate He told all men:
Except yG be converted, and become
as little children, ye shall not enter
into the kingdom of heaven" Matt.
xviii. There is in most mems minds, .
says Newman, "a secret. instinct OF
reverence and affection towards the
days of their childhood. They cannot
help signing with regret and tender
ness when they think Of it; and it is
graciously done by our Lord and Saw
Jour, to avail Himself $50 to say OF
this principle Of our nature, and as
He employs all that belongs to it, SO
to turn this also to the real health of
the soul"
If we wish to affect a person and (f
so be) humble him, what can we do
better than appeal to the memory of
time past, and above all to his child
hood? Then it was that he came out
of the hands of God, with all lessons
and thoughts Of heaven freshly marked
upon him. Who can tell how God
makes the SOUL or how He new-makes
it? We know not But this
we know full welI-we know it from
our own recollection Of ourselves, and
from our experience of children-that
there is in the infant soul, in the first
years Of it's regenerate state, discern
ment of the unseen world in the things
that are seen, a realization Of what is
Sovereign and Adorable, and an incre-
dulity and ignorance about what is
transitory and changeaDle, which
mark it as the fit emblem of the ma
tured Christian, when weaned from
things temporal, and living in the init
mate conviction of the Divine pres
ence. The poet, Wordsworth, says
that Heaven lies about us in our in.
fancy" and:
Not in entire forgetfulness,
Nor yet in utter nalledness,
But trailing clouds of glory do we
come
From heaven which is our Home.
1.-THE simplicity of a child's ways
and notions" says Newman in his
beautiful sermon on "The Mind of Lit
tie Children his ready belief OF
everything he is told, his artless love
his frank confidence, his confession OF
helplessness, his ignorance of evil, his
inability to conceal his thoughts, his
eontentment, his prompt forgetfulness
of trouble, his admiring without covet'
ing; above all, his reverential spirit
looking at all things about him as won
derful, as tokens and types of the One
Invisible, are all evidence of his being
lately Gas it were) n visitant in a
higher state of things"
Let us learn the mind of little chill.
dren Let there be in us the mind OF
the Infant Jesus, innocent, guileless
ever living in the sunlight of our
Fathers Love and looking up with
trust and affection to meet our Moth
er's smile. Let us not go from Beth
lehem till we have asked the Infant
Jesus to give us back the innocence OF
our early happy days, and to take us
with Him in the path of progress in
grace and wisdom.
THE NEW YEAR FESTIVALS-THE