The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1915-01-16
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49,


sion! How his conscience examines
itself automatically! How tender is
his sorrow for his sin when love pic
lures to his mind God and His Cruel
fed Son, and how sincere is the prom
Use of amendment. The foul jest that
makes one man laugh makes another
man angry-he is ready to shed tears
with vexation, ready to fight; for the
love of God within him is a militant
virtue. When ST. Ignatius was first
called to high love of God, he hap
pened upon travelling companion who
blasphemed Christ; and the holy be-
ginner hardly saved himself from hav-
ing the hearts blood of the BIAS
phemer. What makes me sad? Attic
tions and illness; the treason of a
friend; the loss of money. My neigh
Dor, who has won enrolment in
Christ's nobler ranks, smiles at these
visitations. What makes me sad is
love of self; what makes him smile is
love of the CruciGed.
Do you see that friend of yours who
made a mission few months ago?
Do you notice how completely he is
changed from bad to good? All, you
say, the fear of God has penetrated
him. No, you are not quite right. No
man can serve God long after steady
course of sin from a motive of mere
fear-even a high kind of fear. He
| has been touched His affections are
won. His attachments have been loos-
ened like the ice in the spring sun
shine. God has allured him away to
Himself. His sympathies for the sor-
rows of Christ are aroused. All the
sermons of the mission affected him
deeply. But the ones which stayed in
possession were those on the mercy of
God, the death of Christ, and the
Sacrament of the Altar Behold in
fear and love the earlier and the later
beginnings of the service of God! 1t
is the patient service of love that
alone receives both ''the early and the
latter rain" Games V. y for maturing
the harvest in final perseverance.
Herein, too, we see the plenty of our
spiritual resources, especially in the
beginning of devout life. God has
made our hearts in such wise that we
must love Him or be miserable; and
therefore, He has made the means OF
love, yea, of the highest love; namely
prayer and the 'Sacraments, accessible
to all. Gods love is as common as
earth and sky. 1 cannot spend night
| dow IN R0r cot 0YsIy
and rest or perish: but l can eat the
Bread of Life at the altar, and l can
love God as my Father. 1 cannot go
into a monastery, for l am married
nor give great aims, for / have little
money; nor take my life in my hand
AMI preach Christ to the heather. But
l have heart to love, and can go to
Communion every day. Surely it is
enough for a beginner.
Blessed Joseph Cottolengo, the
apostle of human waits and strays in
the city of Turin, who lived in the
middle of the last century, was a
Ounce at school. He was always at
the foot of his class, and this in spite
of hard study. Someone told him to
| invoke the aid of st. Thomas Aquinas.
He did so, and an immediate and
radical change occurred in his mental
| faculties; he was now always at the
head of his class. Filled with gratitude
to God and to st. Thomas, he was at
| loss to know how to return ade-
quate thanksgiving, the worthlessness
of all earthly offerings being plain to
| him. At last by divine inspiration,
the boy found the right gift. 1t was
lodged in his own heart, and he felt
that it was worthy of Gods accept
ance: II will became a saint" was
his solution of the difficulty, and he
at once set to work. He became fond
of writing those words on his copy
| books and at the head of his COM
positions: Il wish to become saint!'
Or this: with Gods help, l will be-
| come saint" Even in his old age he
| used to tell his friends: Il often say,
| wish to become a saint, and | am
still the same old sinner; but with
Gods help l will yet be a saint" All
through life he was beginning over
and over again; and this perpetual
beginning was perpetual register of
progress. 1t was one of the saints
of the ancient dispensation who wrote
! the eternal resolve: And l said:
Now have l begun: this is the change
of the right hand of the Most High
| Cps. XVI, III Perfection consists in
continually passing from desire to
serve God faithfully to an absolute
resolution.
Always to be drawing nearer to God
in ones motives; always renewing the
remembrance that in short time all
visible things will be taken away; al
ways making sure of ones daily pray
ers, good reading, and of ones Comics
sions and COMMUNICATIVE is the
beginning and the continuance and the
end of true Christian life. when
the one object of your life," wrote
Blessed John of Avila to beloved
friend, lis to begin to serve God and
for His sake to bear with things con
trary to your own will, your life is q
good one.'' From the first steps of the
pilgrimage till the entrance to the
everlasting shrine, the road is much
the same. And it is consoling to know
that our progress is. best when it is
essentially rudimentary ST. Bernard
teaches that of all the helps of secur