The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1918-08-31
CONTINUED from page IL
What the Little Flower
May Teach


ficing love as it is possible to be-
stow, she drank the bitter draught
to the last drop. A martyr in body and
soul she carried the cross to the sum-
nit and her last agoniZing gasp was
an act of divine love.
The Saviour Mirrored in Her.
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We rise from a contemplation of
this blessed creature to a contempla-
ton of the Divine Master and Model.
If this little soul taught by His lessons
could see divine things SO clearly,
what shall we say of the human soul
of the Saviour illumined by the Word
of God from within? She had but a
reflected ray; He had and was the
Light Itself, which illumineth every
man that cometh into this world. If
the purest souls are but like the
snowy cloud or the frosted glass, His
was like the perfect crystal bathed in
the divine light. All her gratitude
was but a reflection Of the gratitude
of Christ. "All power in heaven and
EARTH" He said, is given me by The
Father" Father, thank thee" were
words continuously on His lips. If this
little child of grace in her remote con-
vent could be ever unWearied in de-
vising new sacrifices to save souls, we
awake to the energy Of the soul of
Christ during His hidden life. In His
subsequent words, for we admit no
evolution in His thought, we see some
of the grand pictures that passed
through His mind,-the small seed
grown into the great tree, the seine
breaking with fishes, the great field
white for the harvest, the blessed
throngs with lOins grit and lamps in
their hands coming from the East and
the West and sitting down with Abra-
ham and Isaac and Jacob in the king
dom. To bring about these great Wis
ions how He was straitened to go
through a baptism of blood-that
blood His own! 1t would be due to no
lack Of all-embracing desire on His
part if from the beginning of the world
to the end even one soul should per-
ish. If Sister Terese realized the
need He had to be loved, how much
more He realized the need of souls to
be brought under His sway, since He
knew that He alone was constituted
the rescuer of the world from the
flood of sin. On the other hand He
alone realized their plight. He alone
realized fully the unspeakable wrong
there is in one soul being opposed to
it's Maker, and, if it were not for Him,
that it were better indeed that the
whole world should perish than that
there should exist one sinner. Fin
ally, if she under a tranquil exterior
carried most afflicted spirit who can
tell what dismay the Saviour carried
at sight of worldwide depravity, the
enormity of which He alone could
fathom? Shall we not believe that
His hidden life was a life of hidden
anguish? If in the reflection there
fore of this one soul we see in a new
way the beauty of the soul of the
Saviour, what would it be could we
see all the varieties of graces in all
the saints and then look up to Him
the source of them all? What would
it be if we could go further still and
contemplate the ineffable uncreated
grace of His divine personality? Ger
tainly if we thoroughly knew the sera-
phic spirit of the Saints we would
know better how the Incarnate word
came into immediate contact with this
sordid world without being thereby
defiled.
The Bridegroom and Spouse.
Such meditations leave to you who
have chosen Jesus for your spouse.
What blessed choice is yours! In
Him there is a force which if con-
verted into an equivalent physical force
could uphold millions of worlds; in
Him there is a music of sweetest note,
the perfect unison of His human will
with the divine, which if converted
into a music Of sense would draw all
generations of men after Him; in Him
there is ravishing beauty which is be-
yond the accents of angels to describe
and which holds all the Heavens in
thrall. Smitten with that transcend
ant blaze of His glorious countenance
the imperfect soul on entering Para
disc is crushed and crumpled and
longs for the purifying flames of pur-
gatory while in this life it longs for
more and ever more suffering. Yes,
what a spouse He is! He reaches
down to you to lift you above all the
deceitful pleasures of sense into that
realm where He is quickening spirit
harmonizing the banded wills human
and heavenly into the everlasting
chorus of the praises of the great God.
He does more. He blesses your vir-
ginity with a holy motherhood. He
fructifies your spirit SO that you may
become the mothers of souls. Ac-
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