CAPG's Blog 

RESISTANCE AND OBEDIENCE TO GRACE. St. Gregory the Great had three aunts on the father's side,-Thrasilla, Emiliana, and Gordiana. All three made a vow of chastity, and devoted themselves to an ascetic life in the house of their father, the senator Gordian. Thrasilla and Emiliana having renounced the world on the same day, gave themselves up, with mutual zeal, to the practice of perfection, and made great progress in the spiritual life. Gordiana allowed the fervour of her piety gradually to tone down. Her sisters, by force of entreaties, and by lavish marks of affection towards her, were instrumental in leading her to fresh renewals of zeal; but her love of the world ended by detaching her wholly from a devout life, and inducing her to relinquish the practices of piety. Nothing further is known of her after-life. Thrasilla was first called to her reward, after having been favoured with a vision of the Pope St. Felix, her uncle, who addressed her thus:Come! I will accompany you to the abode of glory." Shortly after, she herself appeared to Emiliana, inviting her to celebrate with her, in Heaven, the feast of the Epiphany. Emiliana, in effect, died the following day, the 5th of January, on the eve of that great festival.

MORAL REFLECTION.-Let us often keep in mind the words of our Saviour, "No man can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will sustain the one and despise the other."-(Matt. vi. 24.)

IHS

"When We say the Lord's Prayer, my dear brethren, we pray that God's Name may be hallowed on earth as it is in heaven. So great is God and so worthy of our reverence that everything that belongs to Him or that has been devoted to His service partakes of this reverence. A church dedicated to His service is a holy place; the sacred vessels used in the sacrifice of the Mass are holy things, are set apart, and none but those who are ordained can touch them. Anything that came in contact with our Blessed Lord had a certain participation in His sanctity. At one time it was the mere touch of the hem of His garment that cured a woman of a lingering disease; at another it was His spittle that gave hearing to the deaf. As it is with these things, so it is with His holy Name indeed, much more so.

For His Name to us is representative of all that He has done for us. It is significant of His divinity and of His office as the Redeemer. It was given to Him by the Eternal Father. By the ministry of an angel it was declared that He should be called Jesus, "for He shall save His people from their sins." "For there is no other name under heaven given to men," says St. Peter in today's Epistle, "whereby we must be saved." the same measure as His elevated above all creatures, so is His sacred Name above all other names, "that in the name of Jesus every knee should bow." "From the rising of the sun," says the Psalmist, "until the going down of the same, the name of the Lord is worthy of praise.”

Worthy of praise, my brethren; and yet what is our every-day experience? In all ranks of society, on the street, in the shop, in the home, in the presence of Christ's little ones, men swear, women swear; and little children ere they can use their tongues properly learn to lisp curses and blasphemies. Parents who are God's representatives, and who should love our Lord Jesus Christ and reverence His Name, instead of having a little patience, of acquiring some little control of their temper when anything goes wrong, give loose rein to their tongues and insult our Blessed Lord by their profane use of that Name which is the symbol of His love and mercy. How many there are who bow their head in reverence to that sacred Name in the house of God, and who go to their home or their occupation and use it only to add sin to their soul and give scandal to their neighbors! How often, alas! is that Holy Name dragged through the mire and filth of low, vulgar, and often obscene language.

Saint Mary of the Assumption Parish (Springboro, Ohio)

"THE time to serve God is now, and the place to serve God is right here. Such, brethren, is the lesson of New Year's Day. This day is the starting point of the whole year, and we should appreciate that the day itself, the present time, is of greater value than the past and the future. We should start right. We should get our minds in a proper condition for the labor and suffering, the joy and sorrow, of the coming year; and that means that we should use the present moment for all that it is worth. Of course, brethren, this is the day of big wishes: "I wish you a happy New Year," we all have heard and said many times to-day; and that is a good thing. But good wishes don't put money in the bank, or pay off the mortgage on your home, or even put a fat turkey on the table. They are pleasant and charitable, and, we repeat, they are good things-all the better if, as a matter of fact, they are likely to be fulfilled.

Now, many a one says: "I cannot be as good a Christian as I should wish because I am too busy just now." So you see he takes it out in good wishes by saying, "I wish I could be a good Christian." He is one of those mentioned by our Saviour: "Not every one who says, Lord! Lord! shall enter into the kingdom of heaven"; and He adds, "but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven." Thus our Saviour shows the difference between the one who says and the one who does the good-wisher and the well-doer. Don't you see that by simply wishing you are putting your business above God? Can't you understand that you think more highly of the guest you entertain to-day than you do of the one whom you. put off till to-morrow? First come, first served : and who comes before God? God the Father created you. God the Son redeemed you. God the Holy Ghost sanctified you. Is any business equal to creation, redemption, and sanctification? But somebody might insist: Father, that is all true, and yet what I say is true. I am too busy to attend to my religious duties, and I cannot help it. My occupations force themselves upon me. must work as I do, or I and my family will suffer. I answer: There must be something wrong about this. Is it really possible that you are compelled to work in such a way that you positively cannot receive Communion a few times a year; cannot say your night and morning prayers; cannot attend at Mass-is this really the case? If so, then you are a slave. There have been classes of men among us so situated, but they are not so now, because they rebelled against it, took effective measures to remedy the evil and succeeded in doing so. Have you tried? Have you asked leave to get off work to attend to your religious duties? Are you willing to lose a day's wages once in a while for the love of God? Think over these questions. Be honest with yourself. Do not blame your employer or excuse yourself until you have made your request and been refused.