The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, December 17, 1905, Page 19

THE And the werd was made flesh, and dwelt 1-14. The word was God among us.—St. Jobn | N THIS summary way does the evangelist who, of the four, has told us most about the person of Christ, express the “wonderful economy of redemption, by which God became man, the highest became the low- est, the Creator took his place among his creatures, power became weakness, and wisdom looked to men like folly.” Upon this glorious, unfathomable truth of the in- carnation our hopes of the future depend. Upon it also depend the principles of our religious life here upon earth, which must of necessity be the preparation for that future. And so, while it seems almost like an offici intrusion upon the sweet spirit of the festival to indulge in pro- cesses of reasoning when we should rather “rejoice and be glad,” still. we may reverently inguire so far into the Christmas mys as to see t it to foster our Christian life by m: g its s § As God is a spirit, to worship spirit. Since, however, we have never of spiritual beings, and car ¥ t r n, agine what they are 1 our highest religious du cult. Wors is a men and mind must prod i cannot think at all witho however nt, in the thought of involved in the worsl 5 ed by some image of I T t of ng this image it which so feeble. He rction—a name realize ery 1! c is to worship a ad any experience even Im- which is ip of images, fa God, s will tried to cult Holy You at once Ghost 1 probab try to fix dev from the = sp of which quires ou sha hole soul, but i with ration rship are to we reason and will rol to remain s then to end, if the s too often rebel- are swept 3 by our part - strange little ces of life, power- to the of service of sin support ks us to direct them him? ) is everywhera Can ve . war £ fervor? kindle 1 enfold er Can the not even heart concrete, It was k of these that made the p of God doubly to the en people of old. anted to see and feel their God, and in consequence y fell a p the idolatry of their heathen neighbors. When Moses delayed to come down the moun- s people forgot the Lord wh het he was, and to Aaro “Arise, make that may go (Exodus xxxil:1). It but the strong stions drowning the sounder but weaker the ch to out us before us ery of their voice of reason. And so it was th constantly falling aw that le worship. was history. by ven They were the direst to a fitful, only God could hold them e ather will a n nature. He w his children. He will He will come to them. will win them cords of Adam. us most pow our soul to its depths? What can are wont to be? What can et ourselves and rise to generous can bind us by the pu What but the strength rt like our own? ch of a hand may Ing resolution; or the souna ngth have pity 1 not alw not forever or- we in- n us to tears. e S e S S N N NN NN, RS GRS THE PHILOSOPHY OF CLOTHES-- T, SIS DRSS Z\ 4 4 3 2 b ’i 2 OO LSRG RGO SIS OIS TG SIS SO R RO0000000S HE clothes a have been the grave This re- fo those derclothes the assumed non- 1ind the cold and se his wife. t of the garment of the discarded sundry beasts of the that sald beasts were seldom and manner of the process of few men cven to-day have kind of clothes they shall wear them. me the iron age when every neighbor’'s hencoop or cash the contents of a hardware his head and a toasting fork those days a battle sounded between a couple of steam riveters ary academ were equipped with anvils 3 sledge hammers to give the cadets experience in the of f n vas practiced in those days. from pursuing the devious route by which the development of the iine of clothing ourselves has reached the present high point where a man can spend half his salary for a tuxedo and then look like an under- study for a headwaiter. Having brought the general subject of clothes down ost of egan with ning with clothed. just now summer U question ho a man mark is particularl splicable are yed in our earing o oat w a maxn ¥ doe all to ple developme ted be feared he time then hout the hall in on gentle We refrain God will not suffer his creatures to be stronger in these ways than he himself. These wondrous' powers he will himself assume. He will take a human nature, a body and a soul like ours, but sinless. He too will have a heart, a heart of fire, a heart of tenderness and strength, a heart of compassion and mercy. He will not cease to be God, but he will begin to be man. Then when men shall see him and know him, all their being will go out to him, heart and mind with one accord bowing down before him in easy adoration. Long ago there was a lowly Virgin who became a mother. She bore a son whom God had glven into her bosom, a son whose name_is called Emmanuel—God with us; she wrapped her little one in swathing bands and laid him in & manger. From the joyous day of her blessed motherhood, forsvermore, the invisible Spirit God has a local habitation and a name in the wide universe which his hands have made. The reign of fear ended and that of love began when God was born—when the word was made flesh and dwolt among The angel choirs burst their silence to herald the now era. Shepherds and Kings, the lowly and the drawn to him. They approach him with simple, hearts, for they cannot come near to the spirit of child unt th thems=l Iittle th ¥ hie and the first 1 before the i cn the w become the in e as sets eciou: rs fall ade flesh, therefore, when God premné duty of worship easier. ather who dwelleth, a pure “asy to love God the Son. 2 manger. and the old-time compulsion .forth it is warmed by the fire blessed Savior attracts us to to us from childhood; a human body and a soul, a mind, and emotions. He has walked this He inded all the depths of its nd k him salized who lre is nis Jife made the God the man, he 1rd love inaccessible, i s I 12l coldness ne. Heng He has a n: like our he has a feelings own; has vai 1 irresistible, when once we ) ledge that he became a ou und me—for us men and ou veet charm ef his infancy, the ient n ministry, the tender obedience is crueifixion, mph of his resurrection and the his n—every incident of his life Every act was an appeal more should I have done To such pléading love can love consolation of ascer peated with love devotion. done?” our have not can men do than fall down before him and : mind and heart and soul crying out as Thomas touched the proving wounds, “My did \ Lord fingers my RF. although the primary dificulty of worship, that from t pirituality of God, has thus been tem- pered by inc fon, another yet remaiins. Our blessed Lord was born, lived and died, and took in the world's history. Will not his name, his then, become dimmed by the mist but a memory of them shall re- shing point an exception the his place ad h €5 , until i perspective. Will Jesus Christ be to this law? Is there nothing left for us but the story of his sojourn carth? Is there only the place where his fect have Has God done all his marvels for a fewsouls whose only title to witness them is the fact that they lived 1900 years age? And for us is there nothing but the dead written record of them? How then are we more blessed than those who lived under the old covenant? Only with labor could they bring home to themselves out of the distant heavens the presence of God the Father; we, with scarcely less effort can awaken out of the sleep- ing past his incarnate son. Even should we hearts, how insecure is hi on tood? succeed in enthroning him in our rule! It is one of our humilla- tions to know how time and distance often weaken or dissolve our strongest affections. For the mest part cop- tinued devotion needs continuéd presence. God’s love has met this failing of ours as he met the other. His omnipotence has burst the bonds of death and set at naught the limitations of time and space. Jesus lives to-day on every Catholic altar, for on the right on which he was betrayed he took bread, and blessed and made it his body; he took wine and save thanks and made it his blood; and he gave his priests the power to do what he had done. Frall, ignorant, sinful man, by the sacerdotal power given to him, compels the presence of the Lighest; he lays him up in a small taber- nacle he dispenses him to sinful people — the same gracious Savior who had compassion on the multitudes In the wild ; who brought Mary Magdalen weeping to his feet; whose touch healed the sick: who comforted the stricken widow of Naim; who wept at the tomb of us; and whose look of reproach brought the tears of repentance to the eyes of Peter. The doors of his temples are always open, inviting us to enter and adore. There in his divine presence our hearts grow warm again, our strength Is renewed and our courage revived. There our greatest difficulties of worship SAN FRANCISCO SUNDAY CALL. ND THE WORD WA) YRDE TIRVL, AND DWELT ANONWT g™ REV. FATHER CHARLES A. RAMM. poor, and thou shalt have treasure in We are not condemned to search for him in an empty tomb, nor strain our eyes to see him in the distant heavens. We know “where they have laid him under visible symbols, and we may arise and go to him there, and satisfy the irrepressible cravings of our hearts to have him near us. Even those who think they cannot believe thus locally present in our midst feel, when they are alone in a Catholic church, that there is some influence there which they find nowhere else. Is it strange that he whose presence, unrecognized, made the hearts of the two disciples burn within them as they journeyed with him to Emmaus should still make that presence felt by those who come nearést to him? He is not dead but liveth, and wherever he is virtue still goes out from him. Yes, for our poor sakes the word made flesh still dwells among us. There in the tabernacle is the lowli- ness of his birth; the obedience of his childhood; the obscurity of his youth; the patience of his ministry; the sacrifice of his crucifixlon, and the triumph of his resur- rection: so that the real presence is but the compliment of the mystery of Christm: The life which began in the crib eontinues on the altar. With this life*constantly before them, is it any wondes that so many of his children will follow him anywhere? Kneeling at his feet they have heard his voice, “If thou wilt be perfect, go, sell what thou hast, and give to the are solved. he lives AR TR IIRRRTECA Bt G N B B N B B N B B M S RS B B M O BSOS B BN NN N0 NROEOTOROR NI, O S B P O B B S O B S B B N NN DO DS BB NI LIS TR0 e to the present day we shall turn our attention to the case of J. Seedy Wilkinson and endeavor to show how some of the bearings of our previous remarks lie in the application on 'em. J. Seedy was early taught that good old doctrine that & man is a man for a’ that. This being interpreted is generally taken to wean that any man has a right to think as much of himself as of anyone else, if not more, and that no matter what an impartial invoice might disclose a man’'s own price list 1s the determining factor. Acting in accordance with his carly instruction J. Seedy determined that altogether too much attention was given to clothing the outer man and too little to the embellishment of the inner. Therefore, or for some other reason, J. Seedy gave his attention to the cultivation of his intellect and wore clothes only because there appeared to be a general pre- judice that way. His trousers bagged at the knees and were fringed at the bottom: his sleeves came to an abrupt termination two inches short of their proper des- tination, and his shoes were as badly run over as a pedestrian who assumes that public highways are made for walking and yot for the exclusive use of automobiles. Hair he held to be an indication of genius and so he permitted his to run riot till it was in imminent danger of inducing a hurry-up call for the police reserves. Having made all his arrangements for being the real thing in the way of a blithering genius, J. Seedy set out to inform the world that a real man had arrived and was prepared to open negotiations for the acquisition of fame and fortune. Now, be it known that J. Seedy was really a good thing in disguise as far as cerebral possi- bilities were concerned. The man who caught him asleep would have to use a jimmy and a dark lantern to do it and cven then the chances were that J. Seedy would trade him a book of cigarettes and a broken pen knife for the tools, and cheat him in the quality of the ciga- rettes into the bargain. J. Seedy looked the field over pretty carefully and came to the conclusion that the bank- ing business was the thing that needed his immediate attention in the greatest degree, and he therefore indicted a scholarly eplstle to the president of a flourishing {nsti- tution for the cultivation of the quarterly dividend, in- forming him of his willingness .to aid In harvesting the crop. The president received J. Seedy with eclat and a 10-cent cigar out of his private stock, but when he feasted his eyes on the personal getup of our luckless . hero his gaze became cold and stony. It was the racky appearance of J. Seedy which had that effect on the banker's gaze. He didn’t tell the aspiring applicant what the trouble was, but intimated that circumstances had arisen in the last fifteen minutes which would render it extremely hazardous to add another $15 a week to the bank’'s payroll. J. Seedy wondered exceedingly, but had to take it out in wondering. Then he tried to break into the civil service and had the thing pretty nearly cinched through the helping hand of the family aldeyman when the head of the department which J. Seedy counted on rejuvenating came to the conclusion that the position of official scarecrow was already filled and that the treas- ury would hardly stand for an assistant to that personage. These two instances are merely typical of J. Seedy’s experience during the next six months of his existence.. He tramped the streets and knocked at every door that heaven: and come, follow ir generous hearts have answered the ¢ have arisen and left country and name and to serve his orphans, his sick, his aged, his blind, and his lepers. Take away the altar presence and you take away the inspiration w has led so many men and women to follow the Christian counsels of perfection. The hundreds , and tens of thousands, who have forsaken all the world can offer and are living for God and God's interests ne, derive their strength and personal devo- n the divine life in the tabernacle. that to most of us. that life still means so little. “There hath stood one in the midst of you whom you know not'—one who came that we might have life, and ight » it more abundantly. Men live the sensual life; they the intellectual life; they live the social and the worldly life; they do not live the divine life. They do ou will not come to me that you may have o they care more for the other blessings that he proffers. They grope about and will not follow the ; they are full of questionings and will not interro- h; they are in darkness and will not see the are in sin and will not have the Redeemer. :rt the way, the truth and the life: thou of the world and the Redeemer of the us in our perversity, convert our hearts, minds and direct our feet into the way light; they O thou who who art t light nations, bear with enlighten oyr of peace! S S PO RO -« A FABLE FOR THE FOOLISH -~ ~ =~ BY NICHOLAS NEMO. » « = P e T a2 O) displayed the slightest symptoms of standing ajar only to be told that there was nothing doing and that he was mighty lucky that they didn't set the dog om him. Finally a kind-hearted gentleman who thought that he could detect signs of ability under our friend's uncouth exterior took it upon himself to show him where the trouble re- sided. “My young friend,” he said, “some one has evidently been giving you that old gag about man being superior to his clothes. That's undoubtedly true, but one belleves it. at least not in that way. Other things being equal, the man who dresses himself, instead of merely crawling out of bed and putting on what clothes he can find Lhandy, will land the money. The world is looking for ability, but it wants it well decorated.” A word to J. Seedy was sufficlent, especially since it was work or starve. His surplus funds were Invested in a suit of clothes which fitted him, at least in the more sallent places. and he made a contract with a friendly barber to supply the stuffing for a consignment of sofa pillows. Then he hied him forth and tackled the first job that he saw coming down the fleld for a loss of five yards. All . of these remarks which we have been pushing out into the cold and silent night may seem foolish to the uninitiated, and people who read Browning and dote on Dante. probably won't like them, but nevertheless the rest of us may discover the solemn truth that whils clothes may not make the man entirely they help mate- rially to finish him off. They also teach us that even valuable GOODS look better in neat wrappings. (Copyright, 1904, by Albert Britt.)