The Alaska daily empire., 1917-01-08
Prominent Lecturers of the JeSuitS Holding Mission During
 This Week.
.CALL OF CHRISTIANITY
.FalaCieS of the Day in Spiritual Life Are Set Forth by Speakers
 at Meetings.

Iial services began at the Catholic 1 Church yesterday.
 These exercises will be conducted Iby Rev. T. A. Meaghcr and Rev. F. b. OReilly. Both are members Of the Jesuit Order and devote them selves exclusively 10 the work Of iparochial missions. They come here from California where they have | just concluded series of large mis- slons in San Francisco and Oakland.
 Father Meaghcr made the opening address at the lO:3O o'clock service yesterday. In it he explained the nature and object as well as the Iueed of these occasional spiritual renewals.
 Grouping his thoughts around the familiar picture of Christ Knocking Ithe speaker reminded his hearers that since God has dOwcrcd human kind with free will, man can, and too often does keep the door of his heart closed against God and His grace.
 But is He not our best friend, and does He not come to do us good? Why then, must God knock so often and % long?
 Some do not hear Him knocking. They are too much taken up with other things,
 "Others hear, but heed not Gods knocking. For they have grown so Indifferent to the things of faith and | the after life as to look upon all else than this visable world as an empty dream.
 others hear, ard, in Q sense, heed Gods knocking, for they are often In at ease with themselves. still ] they do not open their hearts to God for they realize only too well that before God can enter some. thing else must be put out to make room for Him. And they lack the moral courage 10 put sin out of their lives.
 Throw wide open the door Of your heart and bid God enter during these days to do you good"
 Evening Address
 In the evening Father O'Reilly was the speaker. Taking "The Quest of Happiness" as his theme he said in part:
 1.-TWO figures comprising Q few de- cades of years, made up the sum of mans life on earth In this short period there are many issues at stake, but among them all there is none so important in itself or so far reaching in its consequences as his final destiny, for this is the pivotal point on which all else should inov- itably turn.
 Shall man reach old asc, acquire wealth, attain fame or exercise his influence in the political world! These are mere bagatelies beside the question that concerns the final issue of his trial time.
 Looking st the world from the standpoint Of experience, VIC find that the heart of man is always in quest of something. There are the quests of love, pleasure, truth, know ledge. fame, power and wealth. but above them all, there is in every human heart the quest of hapDi- ness.
 "Thi3 is the crave common to all whether cultured or illiteratc, refined or boorish, Christian or pagan; hence, happiness is natures universal cry for man.
 Men, in all ages Of history, have despised wealth, summed houors, but there is no example of man in a sane frame of mind who de5pised happiness; even the moral degenor- ate who commits the awful crime of solG-dcstruction, is lureR on to his atrocity hoping his crime will end the present misery and yield hap. piness he does not now enjoy.
 "This it was that made the great mind of Saint Augustine eyClaim: Thou, o God, hast made us for. Thyself, and our hearts are restless until they rcp0se in Thee.
 And it is this very quest of hap piness that gave point to that trench ant sentence of the Gospel: What shall it profit man to gain the whole world and suffer the loss of his own soul?' Here, the Master is speaking of profit, loss and gain, the veyy words that are made use of by business men in the conner cial world of the day. Hence sal Yation is not a woru-out affair and out of date, but the most up.to-date and living of ell living issues. Where fore no man with a gleam of reason can ponder the full import of Chrisrs words without being con- vinced that salvation is the indis- pensible necessity of his life, with all else he can dispense, this alone is absolutely indispensable. Let us be wise in time, and before the shadows deepen and the long days are spent, hearken to the voice that rings clear through The ages Now is the acceptable time, now Is the day Of salyation.'
 The mission will continue through l the entire week. This evening Rev. | Father Meagher will lecture on Life's |