The Finding of Christ.
by VP
Posted on Sunday January 11, 2026 at 12:00AM in Meditations for Christmas
"1. It must have been rather a surprise to the Magi to find the new-born King so poorly housed and humbly clad. Their Eastern ideas of magnificence must have had rather a shock from the absence of all visible splendor from the cradle of the King of kings. Yet their faith never wavered. God was their teacher, and they had learned from Him the difficult lesson of not judging by outward appearances and the impressions of sense.
2. With beating hearts they knock at the door, and Joseph opens to them. Within they find Him Whom they were seeking, in the arms of Mary His Mother. That humble dwelling is full of a celestial light. Sweet songs of angel minstrelsy ring in their ears. Their hearts are full of an unspeakable joy and assurance that before them they have the King of the Jews, nay. the Lord of heaven and earth, their Savior and their God.
3. The first impulse of their hearts is to fall prostrate before that little Child. They fell down and adored Him. What a happiness it was to them to make their submission to Him; to profess their loyalty; to declare that they belonged to Him body and soul for time and for eternity! O Jesus, to Thee, and to Thee only, I belong. Make me Thy faithful servant now and forever."
Meditations for Christmas . By Rev. Richard F. Clarke S.J. The Catholic Truth Society, London 1891
The Business of Life
by VP
Posted on Sunday January 11, 2026 at 12:00AM in Sunday Sermons
" What is the real business of this life? The answer to this question is found in the words of our text: "Did you not know that I must be about the things of my Father?" What is meant by the things of my Father? It means to carry out the commands of God, who is the Father. It means to do the will of God, who is the Father. Our Lord Jesus Christ, who was perfect man as well as true God, points out to us that the chief end of our existence here, and our chief and only real business in life, is to fulfil the commandments of God and carry out His will. As it was His business as man to do this in the greatest perfection, so it is our business just as much as it was His, and the more we appreciate this great truth the better it will be for us, both here and hereafter, and the happier we shall be now as well as in the other world.
To fulfil the commands of God, or do the things of the Father, is not always pleasant to human nature. It was no doubt painful to our Saviour to leave St. Joseph and His Blessed Mother in ignorance of where He was, and to make them search for Him everywhere for three long days without finding Him. But it was the will of His Father, who wished to teach us all, and for all ages, a lesson of patience and conformity, and our Lord did not hesitate; he was willing to suffer Himself, and that His Mother and St. Joseph should suffer, in order that the great good wished for by His Father should be accomplished.
He knew that His Blessed Mother and St. Joseph would derive great profit and merit out of this painful abandonment, because they would willingly accept the pain of it, and present it over and over again as an offering to their heavenly Father, who does everything right and for the best.
The example of the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Joseph should always be before us and make us accept the things of our Father in heaven, no matter how painful they may be, with resignation, and constant prayers for it if we do not feel it, and for help not to give way to murmuring and dissatisfaction because God does not treat us in some other way than He in His divine wisdom and love actually sees fit to treat us.
If we would only say constantly, and on all occasions, "What is the business of my Father? I must make it my business to do it," it would save us many an evil and many a sorrow, and fill our lives with a true joy and a constantly accumulating merit. O my brethren! what fools we are, and how short-sighted, not seeing what is perfectly plain, and what no reasonable being can think of denying.
Everything we do should be one of the things of our Father in heaven. We should consider His will about rising from sleep in the morning, not indulging too much in a sensual and idle slothfulness; and should do the same about going to rest at night, giving ourselves sufficient repose and not spending the hours of rest in dissipation and luxury. All the business of the day should be done, first and above all, as a thing of the heavenly Father, acting with honesty, with fraternal charity, and with sobriety, serving our Lord Jesus Christ, and not men or our own selfishness.
Our conversation should be something which is of God, not being in a hurry to speak of our neighbor's faults or to attribute a bad motive to him or to revile him, but in all things seeing in him the image and likeness of God. Let us remember that he as well as ourselves is an heir of immortal glory, and that Christ has loved him so much as to die for him. Bright and innocent conversation, from which all spite and malice and all badness is excluded, is a thing of the Father and a joy to men and to angels.
And all that happens: bad weather, sickness, failure to carry out our desires, want, death of friends; all come from the permission of the Father, and are handed out to us. In all these things lie concealed the most glorious opportunities of pleasing God and securing our salvation.
Let us often say to ourselves what Jesus said to His blessed Mother: "Do you not know that I must be about the things that are my Father's?" Do you not know that everything else is of no account? Do you not know that here lies the whole business of your life? Do you not know that your whole happiness lies here? Rise up, then, O my soul! and go on courageously; let no obstacle stop you; look on all things with the eye of faith, and not according to the ways of the world. Then shortly you can say with St. Paul: "I have run my course. I have kept the faith. I have fought the good fight. And now there is laid up for me the crown of glory which God will give not only to me but to all who love His coming." First Sunday after Epiphany, Five-minute Sermons for Low Masses on All Sundays of the Year, Volume 1 by the Paulist Congregation Priests, 1893
Priestly Legacy
by VP
Posted on Sunday January 11, 2026 at 12:00AM in Articles
Archbishop Lynch of Toronto used to say: " The average priest secures the salvation of five thousand souls." The more thoroughly and minutely this statement is examined, the more manifest becomes its truthfulness. Hence the priest who secures but one successor to his sacred office has a perennial source of hope and consolation during his declining years, such as is particularly inspiring at the moment of death. But, why should any priest rest content with having secured one? The more the better. It is related of an aged and venerable priest of Orleans, France, that when about to die he gave expression to this beautiful thought: "I am eighty-three and shall soon die. I have not done all the good I would, but one thing consoles me - I leave after me thirty-three priests whom I have formed to the ecclesiastical state; they will do better than I have done."
Some years later, one of these thirty-three, on the occasion of his silver jubilee to the priesthood, had gathered around him twenty-five other priests, whose vocations to the religious state he in turn had fostered. To him his pastor had said on the day of ordination: "Always have pupils in your presbytery; you will be their angel, and they will be yours." (Quest on Vocations.) Would that God might inspire more to emulate the zeal of such priests as these.
Comparatively few dioceses can be found which are not in actual need of more religious workers who have consecrated their lives to the service of Christ. Pastors are petitioning the various religious communities for Sisters and Brothers to teach in the parish schools. Bishops, especially those of the West and South, as also of our newly acquired possessions in the Orient, are appealing for priests to take charge of missionary work. "Send us priests, wise zealous, holy priests," comes as a cry almost universal. Vast multitudes in every land are groping amid the darkness of error and in the shadows of death, seeking for some one to lead them forth into the light of truth and unto the life of Christ. This need is both instant and imperative, and unless there are found some followers of Christ, ardently devoted to His Church and nobly obedient to His call, who will voluntarily offer themselves for this service and consecrate their lives to this endeavor, these benighted ones, so unfortunate in their error, so well disposed for the right, so precious in the sight of God, will continue, in all probability, to search in vain for the way of salvation; and at least many of them, will be lost.
"The harvest indeed is great but the laborers are few." The work to be done is the work of Christ. He is present all days, directing an assisting and blessing. He calls for help. He chooses some favored ones from among His followers and commands them to go forth into the highways and byways and search our laborers and bring them into His vineyard. Some are found who leave this command practically unheeded, not from malice, but rather because they do not thoroughly realize how intense is the desire of Christ for additional laborers in His work and how dire is the need of the Church at the present time for their consecrated service. Thrice blessed, therefore, and well assured of eternal happiness is the priest who can truthfully say at the hour of death: "I shall soon die; I have not done all the good I would, but one thing consoles me - I leave after me others whom I have formed to the priestly life; they will do better than I have done. "
Source: The Sunday-School Director's Guide to Success by Rev. Patrick James Sloan 1909
Saint Theodosius
by VP
Posted on Sunday January 11, 2026 at 12:00AM in Saints
BE MINDFUL OF DEATH.-Theodosius was born in Cappadocia towards the year 423, and was brought up in sentiments of tender piety. He first devoted himself to the priestly state; but feeling afterwards called to contemplation and retirement, he adopted the life of a cœnobite. His humility failed to hide from the eyes of the world at large the splendour of his sanctity; and a great throng of persons of every age having assembled round his cell, he withdrew into a solitude more retired still, with the intent to remain unknown to men. A few companions went to join him, and subsequently numerous disciples followed; so that he saw himself obliged to found a new monastery; for his charity exceeded all bounds. He never refused to receive any one, nor denied anything to any one. He often expended the last resources of the monastery in favour of strangers, pilgrims, and the poor. The thought ever-present to his mind was that of death; the first advice which he offered to his disciples was to prepare to die. Despite his great austerities and labours, his life was prolonged to the age of 106.
MORAL REFLECTION.-The Holy Spirit has told us by the lips of the Wise Man, "Have ever before thy eyes the remembrance of thy last end, and thou shalt never sin."-(Eccles. vii. 40.) (Pictorial half hours with the saints, by Abbe Auguste François Lecanu)
