Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1919-11-27
Discourse Of
f.. Rev. G. H. Tfagesser
St. Paul's Catholic Church, Bal
timOre. Nov. "a. 1919, on the
Occasion of the Months Mind of
Rev. Joseph A. Foley.

Rev. Joseph A. Foley.
l have loved, O Lord, the beauty of thy
house; and the place where thy glory
dwelleth. XIV, 8.
After Christ, her divine spouse, no one
has more thoroughly sounded the depths
of the human heart, no one has more
keenly felt the pulse of humanity, than
Holy Mother Church. From the pierced
side of Christ on the cross, she hae drawn
an exhaustless measure Of His love and
COMPASSION, tenderness and sympathy
for mankind, and throughout the ages,
she has never ceased to pour them out
into the souls of men. Not only did the
Church from the beginning, receive from
the Sacled Heart of the Saviour an
abundant participation of His DISPOSE
tlons towards humanity, but her long
experience has enabled Ter to fathom as
no other can, the aspirations, the long
ines and the necessities Of the hearts OF
men. This truth Is strlkingly evinced
by the beautiful liturgy Of the Church
for her departed children, in which size
seeks at once the eternal repose of the
LEAD and the welfare of the living,
The Church invites us to the altar to
{ fer prayer and sacrifice for our loved
ones. not only on the day of burial In
prese nee of their mortal remains; but on
stated days and times, even long after
the dead have been laid to rest, the
Church bids US to asset BILE, that we may
not forget them, but may renew our
SURFACES and the offering of the holy
sacrifice for their admission before the
goat White Throne. In all this, the
Church aims at the same time toproduce
in the living the salutary effects that
are derived from the remembrance of
the dead.
| have said that we are invited to come
together at certain days and times that
we may not forget the dead; but there
are those that are bound to US by the
ties of kin or friendship and that, having
departed this life, we cannot forget.
There are those united to us 10y bonds so
strong ard sacred that any reference TO
forgetfulness of them would only inf1i't
flesh wound. Their life was so close
ly interviewer with ours, that, at their
departure, it setmed that a portion of
our own life became extinct. The shock
at the tine of their death prevented US
E la, al bot hnxt
to US, and how painful would be the sep
ara,ion. At the time of their departure,
We received from all sides sympathy but
now, they are laid TO rest, and as we
strive to take up again the interrupted
threads of our daily task, an awful loneli-
ness seizes US and time. far from miti-
eating our sorrow and grief, seems only
to prove hoN deep-seated and VI assuage-
al 4 Is he fl ction hh! it is LuLer
such cine un t., ces ard COZ diticns, that
"" most appreciate tn. invitation # the
Cha. l., .-idG.ag as to intern.it on Gus
t'mary occupations and, like gentle
mother, leading us to the altar to assist
at the Holy Sacrifice for the loved ones
that have gone before us. "Sursum
corda; lift up your hearts, the min
lister of the sacrifice calls to US; and on
our souls is impressed more deeply than
ever, the sautary lesson that. just as
the departed derived strength and sup
port from the God of the Eucharist to
carry faithfully unto the end life's bur-
den, so we also from The divine sacrifice
of the mass and from visits to the Bless
ed Sacrament and from holy communion,
shall receive comfort and solace and
force to walk courageously even unto
the mountain of God, the heavenly Je-
rusalem.
One short month ago the sad word
went forth: Father Joe is dead" We
beheld for the last time in death the
features we loved so well in life. De.
spite the genuine sorrow and deep grief
that attended his death and obsequies,
to the loved ones of his family and to
the household of which he formed so
intimate and active part, it seems in
credible that Father Joseph should no
HiOSC aiming thShi, ~ you,
brethren, who were so accustomed to
witness his kind, gen tie bearing and to
receive his divine minlstrs tons in this
Church and in your homes, it seems like
wise incre dible that you will no longer
behold him in your midst We, his friends.
who loved to visit St. PauPs, shall miss
the warm grasp of his vanished hand,
shall hearken in vain for the ring of his
hearty welcome. We have laid to rest
all that was mortal of our brother and
friend, and just as. of old. Martha and
Mary, after they bad consigned to the
tomb their brother Lazarus, fingered in
spirit at his last resting place to live
over again the happy days of his life in
their company, SO we, from the time
that we laid to rest the body of this
worthy priest of the Most High, have
fingered in spirit at his grave to live
over again the years of his childhood and
youth. of his clerical formation at college
and in the seminary, and OF his fruitful
labors in the vineyard of the Lord, and
finally. the last eventful days of his
precious life. But now the Master has
come and we hear his voice: II am the
resurrection and the life: he that believeth
in me. although he he dead. shall live.