Evening journal., 1921-02-09
Church ENTERS
LENTEN SEASON
Cook breaches at
Noon-day on "Worldli-
ness and Christ"
EARLY SERVICE
FOR CATHOLICS

Lent which means pcnltential
season Of forty. days. began today.
which is Ash Wednesday on the
church calendar. II was observed
in Catholic and Episcopal churches
and those OF other denominations.
In Catholic churches the services
began early this morning when
ashes blessed for the purpose were
placed on the heads OF the wor-
shippers by the officiating clergymen.
at the conclusion Of mass
The series Of meetings in St. An
drew's p. +. Church was inaugur-
ated at the noon hour, the Right
Rev. Bishop Cook being the
preacher. These services will con-
tinue at the noon hour every Tues
day, Wednesday. Thursday and Fri
day during the penitentiai season.
The Right Rev. T. p. Thurston OF
Oklahoma will be the preacher to-
morrow.
Bishop Cook preached today on
/ ''Worldliness and Christ" taking his
text from I Corinthians. Is; Let
us eat and drink; for tomorrow we
die" He said in part;
when st. Paul cited these words
in the midst OF his exalted argu-
ment for eternal life and the inn
mortality OF those in communion
with the risen Christ-than which
few statements even OF this inspired
writer reach higher In the realms
OF truth-he was using a phrase al
ready current among men as the
short creed OF complete wordliness
II is quite complete. IL leaves moth
ing TO be added. II condenses into
one sentence a whole philosophy
a common attitude OF mind: Let US
eat and drink; for tomorrow we die,
What is Lent? Lent Is a season
whose practices and teachings is call
culated to defeat the temptations
OF that philosophy and help those
who profess themselves Christians
to see that such a philosophy is a
llie in principle and false in prae-
tice.
Let us eat and drink; for tomor'
row we die. This is the statement
that might well be writ on the WALL
OF a temple OF pleasure TO make
men forget that life is real. life 4
earnest that we might expect L
find in white lights over the en-
trance Of a palace Of pleasure.
yet by a difference of interpre
( tation these words might also hav'
, been taken by Christ as summarize
J ing the truth he came TO teach. W
might inscribe It on the fly leaf o
. our gospel as the truth he came I
enforce.
/ Between these two types q
: teaching there is every distinctio
/ that the mind can conceive or IN
E Imagination picture. The one is tn
/ philosophy Of the flesh; the othe
. the philosophy OF the spirit; one
sad, the other joyous; one is base
on faith. the other on skepticism
the one is conscious OF an enduring
life, the other aghast at the con
temptation of death.
$50 we face two spirits in tn
world today. one stands at the al
tar of the world and says as he Of
fers food and drink for the body
the mind and the emotions-eat ant
drink for the time Is short and tn
opportunity for enjoyment IS fleet
ing. Eat and drink for we know
not whence we came nor whithe
we go; the one thing we know
that the food is sweet and the drinl
, delicious. Eat and drink for tn
world is a hopeless puzzle, a drear
/ mess, its ways are an unequal jus
tice-and we all come TO the sam
, narrow house and the worms cove
us alike and that is the end There
!. fore eat and drink for tomorrow W
! die.
And there stands at the alta
- OF God the Son OF man who gives
n man another spirit He, too, hs
s in his hands food and drink-an
a that food and drink symbolizes a
= that man can want TO sustain h
y body. his will and his soul tt
s feast is prepared and the wine
O the color Of the blood OF sacrih,
h and the love OF God
"And he says to us-eat an