TALKS ON THE SACRAMENTALS



BY FATHER ARTHUR TONNE



Copyright 1950
DIDDE PRINTING COMPANY
Emporia, Kansas

Nihil obstat:
Rev. Lambert Brockman, O.F.M.

Imprimi potest:
Very Rev. Romuald Mollaun, O.F.M., S.T.D.

Nihil obstat:
Rev. Louis S. Hauber, S.T.D.

Imprimatur:
Most Rev. George J. Donnelly, S.T.D.
Bishop of Kansas City in Kansas

February 20, 1950



INTRODUCTION

Most Catholics, and non-Catholics, too, want to know about the 
SACRAMENTALS. This book aims to give a simple, interesting 
explanation of them.

It is gratifying to learn that many priests are finding homiletic 
help in the author's previous works, listed on the title page. As 
always, your suggestions, hints, and criticisms are welcome and 
deeply appreciated.

It is high time that gratitude be offered to the official censors, the 
Rev. Lambert Brockman, O.F.M., representing the Province of St. 
John the Baptist, and to the Rev. Louis S. Hauber, representing the 
Diocese of Kansas City in Kansas, and to an unofficial censor, the 
Rev. J. Forest McGee, O.F.M., former editor of St. Anthony 
Messenger, for their many searching suggestions.

Enclosed you will find a list of proposed publications. Your 
choice in this matter will be seriously considered. With God's 
grace and blessing, the next volume will be TALKS ON THE MASS.

A prayerful remembrance will be appreciated by

The Author.

Feast of St. Scholastica. February 10, 1950.



TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Sacramentals In General
2. Agnus Dei
3. Agriculture, Sacramentals Of
4. Angelus
5. Ashes
6. Asperges
7. Baptism, Ceremonies Of
8. Bells
9. Benediction
10. Breviary
11. Candles
12. Cemetery
13. Churching Of Women
14. Confession, Ceremonies Of
15. Confirmation, Ceremonies Of
16. Cords, Blessed
17. Crib
18. Cross, Sign Of
19. Crucifix
20. Devotions
21. Eucharist, Ceremonies Of
22. Extreme Unction, Ceremonies Of
23. Forty Hours
24. Funeral Service
25. Habit, Religious
26. Holy Oils
27. Holy Water
28. Home Sacramentals
29. Incense
30. Industry, Sacramentals Of 
31. Lilies
32. Litanies
33. Marriage, Ceremonies Of
34. Meal Prayer
35. Medals
36. Missal
37. Palms
38. Paschal Candle
39. Persons, Blessing Of
40. Pictures
41. Pilgrimages
42. Pope's Blessing
43. Prayerbooks
44. Priesthood, Ceremonies Of
45. Relics
46. Rings
47. Ritual
48. Rosary
49. St. Christopher
50. Salt
51. Sanctuary Lamp
52. Scapulars
53. Stations
54. Statues
55. Tabernacle 
56. Things, Blessing Of
57. Three Kings' Blessing
58. Vessels
59. Vestments
60. Vigil Lights 

Topical Index



SACRAMENTALS IN GENERAL

"Waters are broken out in the desert, and streams in the 
wilderness. And that which was dry land shall become a pool, and 
the thirsty land springs of water." Isaias, 35:6.

Some years ago two women were touring a desert region of our 
southwest. They wandered off from their party and were lost. For 
two full days they tramped and tramped in search of a road or 
dwelling. They found none. Completely exhausted, aching with 
thirst and hunger, they could not walk another step. One of them, 
in true womanly fashion, took out her compact to repair the 
damage done by sun and dust. The sun flashed off the mirror. 
She got an idea. Someone might see the reflected light. They 
flashed the mirror in all directions. Rescuers saw the flashes, 
hurried to the source, and saved the two ladies.

Who would have thought that such a simple thing as a mirror 
could save human lives? This essential piece of female 
equipment did not directly save their lives, but it was the means, 
the instrument for attracting attention and bringing help.

The sacramentals are something like that. Of themselves they do 
not save souls, but they are the means for securing heavenly help 
for those who use them properly. A sacramental is a sacred 
object or religious action which the Catholic Church, in imitation 
of the sacraments, uses for the purpose of obtaining spiritual 
favors especially through her prayer. A sacramental is anything 
set apart or blessed by the Church to excite good thoughts and to 
help devotion, and thus secure grace and take away venial sin or 
the temporal punishment due to sin.

Let us compare and contrast the sacraments and the 
sacramentals:

1. The sacraments were instituted by Christ Himself; the 
sacramentals were founded by Christ's Church.

2. The sacraments are limited to the seven instituted by Christ, 
namely, Baptism, Confirmation, Confession, Holy Eucharist, 
Extreme Unction, Holy Orders and Matrimony; the sacramentals 
are numerous and varied, according to the directions of Mother 
Church.

3. The sacraments produce grace directly in the soul, if there is 
no obstacle on the part of the recipient; the sacramentals do not 
produce grace directly and of themselves--they produce grace 
indirectly by disposing and preparing the soul for this divine gift.

4. The words used in the sacraments, except in Extreme Unction, 
positively declare that God is producing certain effects in the 
soul; the prayers used in the sacramentals merely ask God to 
produce certain effects and to grant certain graces.

5. The sacraments give or increase sanctifying grace; and the 
sacramentals are the means to actual graces.

We might divide the sacramentals into prayers, pious objects, 
sacred signs, and religious ceremonies. Some sacramentals are a 
combination--they fall into two or more classes. The Rosary, for 
example, is a pious object and a prayer. The sign of the cross is a 
prayer and a sign. The crucifix, pictures and statues are pious 
objects. The ceremonies performed in the various sacraments are 
also sacramentals, like the extending of the hands in 
Confirmation.

How can mere material things help us on the way to heaven? How 
can water, metal, or a piece of cloth help save our souls? You 
must ever remember that these objects in themselves have no 
power to save or help us. It would be superstitious to say they 
had any such power. But things like a crucifix, a holy picture, a 
statue, a candle, do excite spiritual thoughts and feelings in those 
who use them correctly. They excite the fear and love of God; 
they arouse trust and hope in His mercy; they awaken sorrow and 
joy in the Lord. Their value lies in the fact that they have been set 
aside by the Church for sacred purposes, by the power of the 
Church's official prayer, and by the merits of Christ, preserved 
and distributed by His Church.

That Church not only sets things aside for a sacred use, she also 
attaches definite benefits and blessings to certain objects and 
good works. Many sacramentals have indulgences attached. An 
indulgence is the taking away, outside of confession, in whole or 
in part, of the temporal punishment due to sin which is already 
forgiven.

The sacramentals also try to express the supreme beauty and 
goodness of Almighty God. The words and language of the 
blessings are beautiful; the form and art of statues and pictures 
is of the best very often; the ceremonies of the sacraments are 
adapted to express the graces given.

Do we have to use sacramentals? Does a Catholic have to wear a 
scapular, or use holy water, or pray the Rosary? Strictly speaking, 
no. The sacraments are necessary for salvation; the sacramentals 
are not necessary. Nevertheless, the prayers, pious objects, 
sacred signs and ceremonies of Mother Church are means to 
salvation.

If you were lost in a desert, as were the two women of our story, 
you don't have to have a mirror to be saved. But that lifeless, 
senseless object was the means of saving their lives.

In a similar way the sacramentals, lifeless, helpless in 
themselves, are helps to winning life-giving graces. They must 
never take the place of the sacraments. You will find Catholics 
who place more confidence and trust in these material objects 
than they do in the reality of the sacraments.

For example, you may see a Catholic enter Church and go directly 
to the vigil light stand without seeming to pay any attention to 
our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament. That Catholic does not 
appreciate the difference between a sacrament and a 
sacramental.

It is with a desire and holy ambition to make you appreciate 
these aids to spiritual life, the sacramentals, that we propose to 
explain some of them on succeeding Sundays.

In the desert of daily life they are mirrors that will lead us to the 
fountains of spiritual help and spiritual life. Amen.



AGNUS DEI

"Behold the lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world."
St. John, 1:29.

Elizabeth reigned as queen of England from 1558 until 1603. In 
the fifteenth year of her reign Bloody Bess had the parliament 
pass a law that "if any person shall bring into the realm of 
England any token or tokens, thing or things called or named by 
the name of Agnus Dei (which said Agnus Dei is used to be 
specially hallowed and consecrated, as it is termed, by the Bishop 
of Rome in his own person), and shall deliver the same to any 
subject, he shall incur the penalty of Praemunire."

This was a very severe punishment placing the offender out of 
the king's protection, and his lands and tenements, goods and 
chattles forfeit to the king: and his body shall remain in prison at 
the king's pleasure.

After passing such a senseless law aimed at the Apostolic See one 
would hardly expect the quick-tempered queen to give in to silly 
superstition. Yet, an historian tells us that is exactly what she 
did. One of her close counsellors presented her with a piece of 
gold, marked with small characters, which an old woman in Wales 
bequeathed to the queen. The Welsh woman maintained that this 
gold coin had kept her alive for over one hundred years, that the 
queen could not die as long as she wore it upon her body. What 
did the queen do but accept the piece of gold and wear it upon 
the ruff or collar of her dress. As we know, the queen died just 
the same.

What was this Agnus Dei, which Queen Elizabeth forbade to be 
brought into her country, and which she forbade to be worn by 
any Englishman? Agnus Dei means Lamb of God. The Agnus Dei is 
a sacramental. It is a small piece of wax, impressed with the 
figure of a lamb bearing a banner, blessed by the Pope. It is a 
symbol and reminder of our blessed Lord, "The Lamb of God."

The wax typifies the Body of Christ. The lamb is a symbol or 
figure of the Victim of Calvary. The banner reminds us of the 
victory of our Lord over sin and death.

The Agnus Dei is blessed only by the Pope. It may be round, oval, 
or oblong, and may vary in size from one inch to six inches in 
diameter. The name and coat-of-arms of the Holy Father, or some 
emblem like a cross or flag may be stamped upon it. It is usually 
enclosed in a leathern or silken cover, and is intended to be hung 
about the neck, or displayed with respect in the home.

The use of Agnus Dei or Lamb of God sacramentals probably goes 
back to the fifth century or earlier. The Empress Maria Augusta, 
wife of the Emperor Honorius, died in the fourth century. In her 
tomb a waxen amulet was found resembling the Agnus Dei. It was 
customary in her day for the people to secure fragments of the 
paschal candle and to keep them as safeguards against tempest 
and epidemic. The use of the Agnus Dei may have begun from 
this practice. About the ninth century the Popes began to bless 
them and send them to various parts of the world.

They are now blessed in the first year of the Pope's reign and 
every seventh year thereafter, on the Wednesday of Easter week. 
On the following Saturday, the Vigil of Low Sunday, they are 
solemnly distributed to the cardinals and others. After the Agnus 
Dei of the Mass the Pope puts a packet of these Agnus Dei into 
the inverted miter of each cardinal and bishop who comes up to 
receive them.

The prayers used in this blessing show that the Agnus Dei is 
intended as a protection against the spirits of evil, against 
sickness, tempests, temptations, and sudden death. They are also 
intended to help women expecting motherhood.

The Agnus Dei may be worn suspended from the neck or carried 
in any other way. There are no indulgences attached to it. Nor is 
there any obligation to use it. The manufacture of counterfeits, 
and even the painting and ornamentation of genuine Agnus Dei, 
has been strictly prohibited by various papal bulls.

The meaning of the Agnus Dei is best gathered from the prayers 
used in blessing them. It has two particular meanings:

1. Agnus Dei means Lamb of God. Christ is the Lamb of God. 
Often in the Old and the New Testaments the lamb is a figure of 
Christ. His meekness is frequently compared to that of the lamb. 
Like a lamb, Christ was sacrificed for all of us.

These discs of wax typify the virgin flesh of Christ; the cross with 
the lamb suggests the Victim in the sacrifice; and, as of old the 
blood of the paschal lamb protected each household from the 
destroying angel, so these consecrated medallions protect those 
who wear them from many evil influences.

2. The second purpose of the Agnus Dei refers to the newly 
baptized. These have put on Christ, as St. Paul tells us. They have 
been taken into His Mystical Body; they have become new lambs 
of His flock. As such they are bound to imitate His virtues, 
especially meekness and humility, as Christ Himself said:

"Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am meek and 
humble of heart." St. Matthew, 11:29.

Meekness and humility are characteristic of the lamb. In his 
triumph over the powers of darkness our Lord is indeed the Lion 
of the tribe of Juda, but among His followers He is the Lamb, 
model of meekness and humility, model of purity like the 
spotless whiteness of the wax, model of sacrifice and penance 
like the lamb slain for the sins of men.

St. John pointed to Jesus and declared:

"Behold the Lamb of God."

Many do not understand. Many make fun of such material helps 
to remind us of the Lamb of God. Many, like Queen Elizabeth, go 
to other extremes in the way of superstition.

May you and I behold the Lamb of God constantly. May we keep 
Him ever in our thoughts and in our living. As with many other of 
the sacramentals, that is the principal purpose of the Agnus Dei. 
May the thought of the Agnus Dei help us ever to keep the Lamb 
of God in mind. Amen.



AGRICULTURE, SACRAMENTALS OF

"I have planted, Appollo watered, but God has given the growth." I 
Cor., 3:6.

St. Isidore, who was born near Madrid, Spain, about the year 
1070, and who died May 15, 1130, is the patron saint of farmers. 
All his life he worked for a certain Juan de Vargas on a farm near 
Madrid.

Every morning before going to work he would hear Mass in the 
nearby city. His fellow workers were jealous of the esteem which 
their employer had for Isidore. They complained to their master 
that Isidore was always late for work in the morning. The owner 
decided to find out for himself. He hid in the hollow of a tree to 
watch. Sure enough, Isidore actually started working much later 
than the others. The employer was walking toward the late-comer 
to rebuke him and tell him to come on time, when he was 
surprised to see a second team of oxen, snow-white and led by 
unknown individuals, plowing beside Isidore. Even as he stood 
watching the team and drivers disappeared, proving that 
supernatural help had supplied all that was lacking. Others 
reported they saw angels assisting Isidore in the field. By 
attending daily Mass he had won God's special blessing.

Who, more than the farmer, needs the blessing of God on his 
work? So much depends on favorable weather--on the rain and 
sunshine and the miracle of growth, that the man who tills the 
soil needs constantly the help of the Almighty.

Christ chose many of His parables and illustrations from the field 
and the farm. Until recent times, tilling the soil was the principal 
occupation of men everywhere. Even today it occupies millions of 
people. For these reasons Mother Church gives special attention 
to the farmer's needs and offers a blessing for lands, seeds, 
harvests and animals. The Sacramentals of Agriculture are among 
the most numerous and necessary in the ceremonies of the 
Church. We do well to think about them.

1. Four times a year Mother Church asks us to observe Ember 
Week. In December, in Lent, after Pentecost, and in September the 
Church sets aside a week, asking us to fast and abstain on 
Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, principally for abundant and 
successful crops.

2. She sets aside the Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday before 
Ascension Thursday as Rogation Days, to beg, which is the 
meaning of Rogation, God's protection over people and crops.

3. In the Litany said on these days we offer this fitting prayer: 
"We beg of Thy goodness, O Almighty God, that the fruits of the 
earth...may be penetrated by the dew of Thy blessings; grant to 
this people always to thank Thee for Thy gifts; that the fertility of 
the earth may enrich the hungry.. and that the poor and the 
needy may celebrate Thy glory.... May the blessing of Almighty 
God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, descend in plenty on the fields 
and on all these good things, and remain there forever."

4. Mother Church also blesses grain from the moment of planting 
to the day of harvest. She prays: "We beg of Thee, O Lord, deign 
to bless these seeds, to foster them with the mild breath of a 
serene heaven, to render them fertile by dew from above, and to 
bring them unharmed to fullest maturity for the use of souls and 
bodies."

She blesses the growing grain; she blesses the crops; she offers 
the first fruits to God; she blesses the granary, the mill and their 
contents; she asks God to appoint an angel to watch over the 
crops and their owners.

5. Farm animals, their barns and their food have a blessing. In 
blessing a stable Mother Church recalls the ox and ass at 
Bethlehem. She blesses hay and salt and pasture lands.

True and tender Mother that she is, the Church blesses animal 
pets like dogs and cats, canaries, parrots and monkeys. At Rome 
she blesses the horses of the cabmen, and in 1939 along with the 
horses she blessed two circus elephants.

6. Especially interesting are the blessings of bees and silkworms. 
The prayer for bees refers to the beeswax candles used in divine 
worship. It asks God to bless "these bees and this beehive...so 
that their fruits may be dispensed unto Thy glory, and that of Thy 
Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and of the Blessed Virgin Mary."

The Church asks God "to bless these silkworms, to foster and 
multiply them by kindness," so that the silk may be used to adorn 
the altar and glorify God.

7. There are numerous blessings for products of the earth and 
farm--for bread, fruits, eggs, oil, butter, cheese, lard, for beer and 
wine. Each blessing asks health for soul and body of those who 
eat the food.

Here is part of the blessing for bread: "O Lord Jesus Christ...Thou 
living Bread of eternal life, deign to bless this bread...that all who 
partake thereof may obtain the desired health of body and soul."

There is even a special benediction for colored Easter eggs, as 
symbols of creation and resurrection.

These and many other blessings for things on the farm are what 
we call the Sacramentals of Agriculture, the Sacramentals of the 
Farm. These sacramentals set aside the things which God has 
created, the things which God has caused to grow, that we may 
use them for the glory of God, that we may use them for our own 
health of soul and body.

Every man who tills the soil, and every thinking person who to 
any extent has an understanding of the life of the farmer, will see 
at once the value, the need, the beauty, and the inspiration of 
these farm blessings.

Just as St. Isidore prayed for the blessing of God every day at 
Mass, and visibly had the help of God's angels in his work, so 
every tiller of the soil should ask God's blessing, the blessing of 
God's Church on his work and the fruits of his work. Amen.



ANGELUS

"The Holy One to be born shall be called the Son of God." St. Luke, 
1:35.

Around 1870 there lived in the hamlet of Goellheim, Germany, a 
fine Jewish family by the name of Moser. Their youngest son, 
Maurice, was a buddy of a Catholic lad by the name of Christian 
Behlen. Christian's father was chief trustee of the village and 
entrusted his boy with ringing the Angelus three times a day.

Naturally the eleven-year old Jewish lad envied his pal's privilege 
of ringing that bell which could be heard for miles around. He 
watched wistfully as Christian proudly and piously counted out 
three strokes, paused, three more strokes, again paused, and 
finally after another three strokes and a slight pause, rang the 
bells joyfully for a minute or two.

Maurice lent a hand with the rope, knelt down beside his friend, 
and later joined in the prayers when Christian said them aloud. 
The Jewish lad began to slip into church at other times, as he had 
seen Christian doing, especially to kneel before the statue of the 
Immaculate Mother. One day Christian found him there in tears. 
Maurice told him that he was asking Mary to be his Mother too, 
that he had pledged her eternal love and loyalty. When Christian 
made his First Communion at the age of 13 and Maurice did not, 
the latter was deeply disappointed.

"I know," he said, "that the dear Lord is present in the Blessed 
Sacrament."

Years passed. Their paths separated. Maurice was sent to a school 
for rabbis, but the young man turned to business instead. He 
worked for a time in South America and finally settled in 
Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

One Sunday, attracted again by the church bells, he went to High 
Mass at St. Anthony Church there. The sermon seemed aimed at 
him. He called on Father Becker, the pastor. In due time he took 
instructions and became a Catholic, June, 1886, at the age of 22, 
taking the name of Valentine.

Many of his fellow Jews, learning of his conversion, made life 
miserable for him. His own sister led the persecution. But he 
persevered. He married a splendid Catholic woman, who helped 
him rear a large family. All of them are now happily married.

The greatest delight of the grandfather is to teach his 
grandchildren the Angelus, and to take them to Mass which he 
attends daily. He is an active, zealous Catholic.

What happened to Christian, the Catholic boy? He became Brother 
Christian Behlen, of the Society of Mary. Often the boyhood 
friends exchanged letters filled with admiration of the wonderful 
ways of God and filled with devotion to Mary and the Angelus.

The Angelus is a devotion in honor of the Incarnation of our Lord, 
recited morning, noon and evening, to the sound of a bell. It 
consists of three little verses each followed by a Hail Mary. After 
the third Hail Mary there is a response and a prayer.

The Angelus takes its name from the first word of the Latin form 
of the prayer: "Angelus Domini nuntiavit Mariae," which means, 
"The Angel of the Lord declared unto Mary." That angel 
announced the most important news ever brought to earth. That 
angel spoke of the greatest fact in all history, the fact that the 
Son of God became man, was conceived of the Holy Spirit in the 
womb of the Virgin Mary. Mother Church wants us never to forget 
that fact. She wants us to think of it at least three times every 
day. From Catholic steeples throughout the land she calls to her 
children to remember prayerfully this Greatest event of all time.

The Angelus devotion developed gradually. Most likely it began 
to form in the ancient monastic custom of reciting the "Little 
Office of the Blessed Virgin." In that office they often repeated 
the greeting of the Archangel Gabriel to Mary. The people began 
to use these words as a daily prayer.

St. Bonaventure, the Seraphic Doctor, in the general chapter of 
the Franciscan Order in Paris in 1226, and later at Assisi, ordered 
the triple salutation of the Blessed Virgin, called the Angelus, to 
be recited every evening at 6 o'clock in honor of the incarnation.

Finally, after several changes, the Angelus took the form which it 
has today. If you want the biblical background of this devotion 
and the words of this prayer, read the Gospel story as found in 
the first chapter of St. Luke from verse 26 to 42. From this 
passage the first half of the Hail Mary and the first and second 
versicles and their responses are taken, while the third versicle 
and response are from the Gospel according to St. John, 1:14.

The Angelus brings an indulgence of 10 years for each recitation, 
and a plenary indulgence once a month for those who say it three 
times every day. It may be said standing or kneeling. The whole 
Angelus, as commonly printed, has to be recited. Those who do 
not know the prayers by heart, or who are unable to read them, 
may say five Hail Marys in their place.

Calling to mind the presence of God is one of the best means to 
perfection. The Angelus helps us to remember that God is near, 
by raising our thoughts to Him morning, noon and night. It 
revives our remembrance of the principal mysteries of our 
religion. In particular, it helps us recall the thrilling fact that the 
Son of God became man, and it helps us remember the virginal 
motherhood of Mary, His Mother.

The Angelus keeps us in contact with Jesus and Mary. It revives 
our remembrance of the basic truths of our faith. It enlivens 
hope. It enkindles love. It awakens gratitude.

Say the Angelus every time you hear the church bells, no matter 
where you are or what you are doing. It was a means of bringing a 
Jew into the Church. It can be a means of growing in the love of 
God and His Mother for you. Amen.



ASHES

"And the men of Nivive believed in God: and they proclaimed a 
fast, and put on sackcloth from the greatest to the least." Jonas, 
3:4.

A certain French nobleman who had led a wicked life was moved 
by grace to change his ways. As he was too well known in France, 
he went to Rome to make his confession to the Holy Father 
himself. Pope Pius VI, who reigned from 1775 to 1799, received 
him kindly, and heard his confession. But when it came to 
imposing a penance, nothing seemed to suit the sinner's tastes or 
strength. He was too weak to fast. He was too busy to read or 
pray much. He could not make a pilgrimage. He was too tired to 
keep prayerful watch. No penance seemed suitable.

Wise guide that he was, Pope Pius finally gave the penitent a gold 
ring on which were engraved the words, Memento mori, which 
mean, Remember thou shalt die. His penance was to wear this 
ring and read the words on it at least once a day.

At first this was easy, but as he read those terrifying and 
prophetic words day after day, the nobleman gradually realized 
that death would one day come to him. He reasoned:

"If I have to die, what else can I do better on this earth than 
prepare for death? Why pamper this body which will one day rot 
in the ground?"

He began to carry out not only one or two but all of the penances 
which the Holy Father suggested. He lead a virtuous life and died 
a happy death.

On Ash Wednesday of every year Mother Church gives to each 
one of us not a gold ring but a few ashes. The purpose of the 
ashes is the same as the purpose of the ring which Pope Pius VI 
gave to his penitent, namely, to remind us of death. The ashes 
tell us what the ring told the nobleman: Remember thou shalt die.

The blessing of the ashes begins with an antiphon and a verse of 
a psalm imploring the mercy and grace of God. Then come four 
prayers which express the meaning of the ashes:

1. To be a spiritual help for all who contritely confess their sins.

2. To secure for those who receive the ashes, the pardon of all 
their sins.

3. To fill everyone with the spirit of sorrow for sin.

4. To give us courage and strength to do penance bravely.

After the priest sprinkles the ashes with holy water and incenses 
them, he puts some on his own head and on the heads of those 
present. He says another prayer for protection in the coming 
combat. Ashes, a sacramental, are a symbol of penance:

1. Their color is gray, the color of penance. Ashes have a gritty, 
cleansing value; penance cleanses our hearts and removes the 
stains of sin. Ashes are a good fertilizer; penance helps us grow 
in virtue and bring forth fruits of justice.

2. In the Old Law ashes were a figure of penance:

	a. When Jonas proclaimed to the Ninevites the destruction of 
their city, "they proclaimed a fast and put on sackcloth." Jonas, 
3:4.

	b. King David put ashes on his bread that even at meals he 
might remember his sins and the need of penance.

3. Ashes are a figure of penance in the New Law also:

	a. In the early ages of the Church ashes were put on the 
heads of public sinners. At the beginning of Lent they came 
before the bishop, barefoot and in mourning garments to have 
the Penitential Psalms and the Litany of the Saints recited over 
them. All during Lent they performed the most rigorous 
penances.

	b. Public penance is no longer practiced, but the practice of 
putting ashes on the head has been retained. Since 1091, the date 
of the Council of Beneventum, ashes are distributed to all, to 
sinner and saint alike, throughout the Church. All are sinners in 
some way or other. In some way or other all need penance.

Ashes spur us on to religious sacrifice:

1. Where do we get the ashes? They are secured by burning the 
palms blessed the Palm Sunday of the previous Lent.

	a. The ashes of palms are used because the palm is an 
emblem of peace, which comes after combat and victory. The 
palms were carried as Christ entered Jerusalem, to show his 
claim to leadership and to victory. The burnt palms call upon us 
to win a victory over sin.

	b. The ashes also remind us of Christ whom we must keep in 
mind all during Lent.

2. What are the ashes? They are the remains of burnt things--a 
picture of the emptiness and nothingness of temporal goods and 
pleasures.

3. When are the ashes distributed? At the beginning of Lent, a 
season of sorrow and suffering for sin, a season of preparation 
for the passion and death of Christ.

4. How are they distributed?

	a. They are put on the head, which is the seat of pride. 
Mother Church thus points out to us that we have no reason to be 
proud, since we are nothing but dust and ashes.

	b. They are put on in the form of a cross to remind us that 
Jesus died on a cross for us, and that we must take up the cross 
and follow Him.

5. Finally, while placing the ashes the priest says: "Remember, 
man, that thou art dust, and unto dust thou shalt return."

The ashes may disappear from our foreheads, but their meaning 
and lesson must penetrate and grow in our hearts. As the ring 
reminded the nobleman of death, of the emptiness of material 
things and the value of spiritual things, so the ashes, eloquent 
sacramental of penance, must remind us of the nothingness of 
the things of this world and the value of things eternal. Amen.



ASPERGES

"And a man that is clean shall dip hyssop in them (the living 
waters), and shall sprinkle therewith all the tent, and all the 
furniture, and the men that are defiled with touching any such 
thing." Numbers, 19:18.

One day a small boy wandered down to the brink of a gurgling 
brook. He watched the dancing waters and tried to talk to the 
jumping waves. But nobody wanted to stop and talk. He asked 
them where they came from, but there was no answer.

At last a tiny water-drop, splashed upon a near-by rock, looked 
up and smiled at the little fellow, who immediately asked:

"Say, where did you come from?"

"A long time ago," answered the water-drop, "I lived with 
countless sisters and brothers in the wide, deep ocean. We had 
lots of fun. We went high up on mighty waves and then tumbled 
down into deep, dark troughs. We splashed on boats and played 
with the fish.

"But one day I decided to see what there was in the world beside 
the ocean. I grasped a sunbeam and clung fast to him as he 
carried me up, up, way up above the clouds. There he shook me 
off and I began falling, right into a big, black cloud which floated 
over a mountain peak, settled down, and spread itself on the 
mountain side in a million drops of rain. I was one of them. I 
slipped on a rock and tumbled from pebble to rock, from rock to 
pebble, until I rolled into a tiny spring trickling into a valley. 
There I joined this little brook, which leads, I hope, back to the 
great ocean where I can play again with my brothers and sisters."

Just as the water-drop said this, a for-get-me-not reached out its 
root and drew in the water-drop to make it part of a beautiful 
flower.

Like the water-drops drawn up from the ocean by the rays of the 
sun and carried up to form clouds, so the water-drops blessed by 
the priest before Mass have, as it were, been carried up on the 
beams of God's love to His heavenly home there to receive a 
special power of helping the soul and body of those who use 
respectfully and receive with devotion the drops sprinkled over 
them in church.

If a simple flower can take a drop of water and turn it to its own 
uses, if all of nature can turn drops of water into a million uses, 
then surely the Almighty Creator of all flowers and all rain can 
turn drops of water to His supernatural uses.

Of Holy Water in general and of its blessing we will speak on 
another Sunday. Today we would like to speak of one of the uses 
of Holy Water, namely, the Asperges. The sprinkling of the 
congregation with Holy Water before the principal service on 
Sunday is called the Asperges, a Latin word meaning "sprinkle," 
because the prayer in that sacramental begins with the word 
"Asperges."

That prayer reads in English:

"Thou shalt sprinkle me, O Lord, with hyssop, and I shall be 
cleansed: Thou shalt wash me, and I shall be made whiter than 
snow."

Usually just before the High Mass the priest blesses water. Vested 
in alb, cincture, stole and cope, he enters the sanctuary, and 
intones the words:

"Thou shalt sprinkle me..."

He sprinkles himself, the front of the altar and the altar platform. 
He genuflects and proceeds down the main aisle to the door 
sprinkling the people on either side. Meanwhile the choir sings 
the Asperges, adding:

"Have mercy on me, O God, according to Thy great mercy."

After the "Glory be" the first part is repeated. At the altar the 
priest sings:

"Show us, O Lord, Thy mercy."

The choir answers:

"And grant us Thy salvation."

Priest: "O Lord, hear my prayer."

Choir: "And let my cry come unto Thee."

Priest: "The Lord be with you."

Choir: "And with thy spirit."

"Let us pray: Hear us, O Holy Lord, Father Almighty, everlasting 
God; and vouchsafe to send Thy holy angel from heaven, to 
guard, cherish, protect, visit, and defend all those who are 
assembled together in this house. Through Christ our Lord. 
Amen."

This striking ceremony has many meanings and purposes:

1. The altar is a symbol of Christ. The union between Christ and 
the people is brought out by the priest going among the people.

2. As the place of sacrifice, the altar brings many blessings. This 
ocean of grace is expressed by the drops of water sprinkled over 
the people.

3. Priest, altar, and faithful must come to the sacrifice as pure 
and clean as possible. The Holy water shows this.

4. The Asperges reminds us to renew every Sunday the 
remembrance of our baptism.

5. Still another purpose of this ceremony is to drive away all evil 
thoughts and distractions, all evil influences and hindrances. The 
evil spirits flee before the flood of water laden with God's grace.

You should bless yourself and genuflect on one knee as the priest 
walks by you down the aisle. It is not necessary that everyone be 
touched by one of the drops, because you all belong to the body 
of the congregation.

As you see the droplets fall over you of a Sunday morning, as you 
feel them gently touch you, remember that they have been 
blessed by God's representative, the priest, and that by the merits 
of Christ they have the power to help you if you receive this 
sacramental with proper devotion and thought.

Take these drops of grace into your heart as the for-get-me-not of 
our story reached out with its root and took the tiny drop of 
water from the brook. It is a means of God's grace and help for 
you. Amen.



BAPTISM, CEREMONIES OF

"Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in 
the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." St. 
Matthew, 28:19.

A distinguished looking elderly gentleman walked into a florist 
shop one day.

"I want a beautiful corsage," he said, "not too large, but just about 
the prettiest one you can make."

He smiled proudly and added:

"It's for my granddaughter; she's having her first date tomorrow."

The florist was interested and cooperative.

"What color are her eyes?" he asked.

"Blue," answered the old gentleman.

"And what kind of dress will she be wearing, do you know?"

"I think it will be a pink one," replied the grandfather.

"How old is the young lady?" asked the florist, as a matter of 
course.

"Two weeks," replied the grandfather.

"Two weeks?" echoed the dumbfounded florist. "Did I understand 
you right? A date--a corsage--and only two weeks old?"

"Exactly," smiled the old gentleman. "And I want a corsage that is 
exactly right. She will never have a more important date than she 
has tomorrow. My little granddaughter is going to be baptized."

Baptism is indeed the most important date any person will ever 
have. It is interesting and inspiring to know what takes place on 
that date and why. The ceremonies of Baptism are some of the 
most expressive and impressive sacramentals in the Church.

1. After meeting the child at the door of church to show that the 
doors of heaven are still closed against him, the priest asks: 
"John, what dost thou ask of the Church of God?" The sponsors 
answer: "Faith." "What doth faith bring thee to?" continues the 
priest. The sponsors answer: "Life everlasting." The priest says: 
"If, therefore, thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments: 
Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all 
thy soul, and with all thy mind, and thy neighbor as thyself."

2. Three times the priest breathes on the face of the infant, to 
show that the Holy Spirit is giving the child the power to breathe 
the supernatural life. It is done three times to show that Baptism 
is given in the name of the Holy Trinity.

3. With his right thumb the priest makes the sign of the cross on 
the forehead to show that the child ought never to be ashamed of 
Jesus Christ; and on the breast to show that he must love Christ 
crucified.

4. The priest lays his hand on the infant's head and prays that 
God bend over the child with His protection, that the blessings of 
heaven descend upon him, and that Satan be driven out.

5. The priest puts a little salt on the tongue of the child. Salt 
preserves, gives taste to things, and represents wisdom. Here it 
means that the child is to be preserved from sin, is to have a 
taste for spiritual things, and is to be fed with divine wisdom.

6. God's minister recites several prayers driving out the devil, 
making the sign of the cross a number of times to deliver the 
child from the power of the evil one.

7. Again the priestly hand is laid on the head of the infant, asking 
God to enlighten the child with His wisdom and cleanse him by 
divine grace.

8. The stole is placed on the child to admit the little one to the 
baptismal font. Priest and sponsors recite the Apostles' Creed to 
show that the child professes the faith of Christ, and the Our 
Father, to show that only by Baptism does one have the right to 
call God Father. It is also a reminder to say these prayers often.

9. The priest wets his thumb with spittle and touches the ears 
and nose of the infant, reminding us of the cure worked by Christ 
on the deaf and dumb man. (St. Mark, 7:32) For a just cause this 
ceremony may be omitted.

10. After asking the child to give up Satan, his works and his 
pomps or boastings, the priest dips his thumb in the oil of 
catechumens and with it makes a small sign of the cross on the 
breast and between the shoulders, that the child may love Christ 
and carry His cross. Oil is a symbol of strength and suppleness.

11. Through its sponsors the child professes his belief in the 
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, in the Catholic Church and 
everything the Church teaches. In answer to the question: "Wilt 
thou be baptized?" the child answers: "I will."

12. The priest takes baptismal water, pours it three times on the 
infant's head in the form of a cross, and says: "John, I baptize 
thee in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy 
Ghost." The sponsors must hold or touch the child meanwhile.

13. The priest dips his thumb in holy chrism and anoints the 
crown of the child's head, the most excellent part of its body, 
consecrating the little one as a child of God.

14. He lays on the infant a small dress or white linen cloth, which 
represents the glory of the resurrection, the beauty of a soul 
cleansed of all sin, and especially the innocence and purity which 
the baptized should preserve throughout life.

15. He also offers a lighted candle to be held by child or sponsor, 
reminding the newly baptized that the burning faith which he 
received in Baptism should be kept and increased. The 
concluding words of the priest to the child are:

"John, go in peace and the Lord be with thee."

The great majority of you were made children of God with these 
significant ceremonies. You remember nothing of that first and 
most important date of your life, that meeting between you and 
Almighty God, when He took you, adopted you as His own child. 
That is why at First Communion, on missions and retreats, and 
other outstanding spiritual occasions, we renew our baptismal 
vows or promises. That is why I advise you this morning to recall 
these ceremonies and their rich, religious meaning. Realize their 
importance, their beauty, their inspiration. Resolve again this 
morning to live up to your Baptism. Amen.



BELLS

"The voice of the Lord is in power; the voice of the Lord in 
magnificence." Psalm, 28:4

Gilbert Keith Chesterton, the great English writer, was received 
into the Catholic Church on July 30, 1922. From then on he was 
an outstanding apologist for the Church he had come to love. On 
June 14, 1936, he passed away--rather suddenly. He was buried 
in the graveyard of Beaconsfield Catholic Church, toward the 
construction of which Chesterton and his wife, also a convert, 
had been generous contributors. A few years after his death the 
Republic of Ireland gave a great bell for the Chesterton Memorial 
Church. On the bell is this inscription:

"Presented to the parish of Beaconsfield by friends and admirers 
of Gilbert Keith Chesterton, to ring the call to faith, which he so 
chivalrously answered in song, in word, and in example, to the 
glory of God and of England."

A similar inscription might be carved on every bell in every 
Catholic steeple throughout the world, for those bells are ever 
calling to faith and worship. And all true Catholics, like 
Chesterton, answer that call every time they hear it.

Bells have been used for religious purposes from very ancient 
times especially in Egypt and among the Jews. All these bells 
were of small size. It is said that Paulinus, Bishop of Nola, in 
Italy, introduced bells into Christian Churches. Bells grew to their 
present large size, great variety, and beautiful tone solely under 
the inspiration of the Catholic Church. The churchmen and saints 
of the faith founded by Christ made laws for their use, drew up a 
beautiful ceremony for their blessing, gave them a Christian 
meaning and name and provided shelter and honor for them in 
glorious towers, steeples and belfries. Bells are beautiful 
sacramentals.

As such, Mother Church blesses them, christens them, in a 
ceremony that is unusually impressive and solemn. The bishop 
and clergy assemble around the bell placed in the middle of the 
church. The group recites psalms asking God for His mercy and 
help and promising to adore and serve Him faithfully. Holy water 
is blessed in the usual manner, with the addition of a particular 
prayer for the purpose intended. With this holy water the bishop 
and priests wash the inside and outside of the bell as psalms of 
praise and thanksgiving are recited. "Sing ye to the Lord a new 
canticle: let His praise be in the church of His saints. Let Israel 
rejoice in Him that made him: and the children of Sion be joyful 
in their king." Psalm 149.

"Praise ye the Lord in His holy places: praise ye Him in the 
firmament of His power. Praise ye Him for His mighty acts: praise 
ye Him according to the multitude of His greatness. Praise Him 
with sound of trumpet: praise Him with psaltery and harp. Praise 
Him with timbrel and choir: praise Him with strings and organs. 
Praise Him on high sounding cymbals: praise Him on cymbals of 
joy: let every spirit praise the Lord. Alleluia." Psalm 110.

Then the bishop asks God that when the bell sounds it may 
kindle in the hearts of the faithful true love and devotion for His 
blessed service. He asks that disturbances in the weather may be 
calmed and that the air be free of all diseases and evil spirits. 
After this comes a psalm inviting all to praise and glorify 
Almighty God and remember His mighty works. (Psalm 28)

The bishop anoints the bell with oil of the sick making the sign of 
the cross with it seven times on the exterior and four times on 
the interior praying that God may consecrate and sanctify it 
within and without, and make the sound of it fruitful in grace, 
blessing and protection for all the faithful.

Then is read the Gospel of our Lord's visit with Martha and Mary. 
You remember how Martha complained that Mary did not help her 
with serving, and how our Lord exclaimed:

"Martha, Martha, thou art anxious and troubled about many 
things; and yet only one thing is needful. Mary has chosen the 
best part, and it will not be taken away from her." St. Luke, 10:41, 
42.

The thought is that everyone who listens to the Lord's voice is 
pleasing to the Lord. The church bell is in many ways the voice of 
the Lord. It calls us to rejoice and it calls us to mourn. It calls us 
to seek and find consolation in distress, and direction in danger. 
It calls us to adore and worship the Creator and Redeemer.

Who can describe our feelings as we hear the bells on Christmas 
night and Easter morning? Who can picture our sorrow as we hear 
those bells sad and solemn, telling us of the passing of a dear 
one, and reminding us that they will toll for us? Like the voice of 
the Lord, the bell calls us to holy Mass and evening services.

Three times a day the bell's peaceful, soothing, measured tones 
remind us of the great mystery of the incarnation, and invite us 
to bow our hearts and heads to adore the Word made flesh and to 
ask the protection and assistance of our Lord and His sweet 
Mother. That is the Angelus bell.

And when on Holy Thursday the bells tumble joyfully in their 
sturdy cradles we remember the great gift of the Eucharist, and 
we are warned to prepare for the terrible hours to come, the 
hours of our Lord's passion and death, when the bells are sadly 
silent.

Holy Saturday morning they burst forth again, it seems just a 
little ahead of time, but they cannot keep silent when there is 
such glorious news as that of the Resurrection to be announced. 
Truly the church bell is the voice of God.

The smaller bells used in the church need not be blessed. They 
are generally used to remind us of the principal parts of the 
Mass, and the solemn moment of Benediction of the Blessed 
Sacrament.

Listen to your church bells. Heed their call. Obey their 
commands. Answer their call as did that valiant Catholic convert, 
Chesterton, as did all the great followers of Christ. May the 
church bell be a helpful sacramental to you--to the glory of God 
and the good of your soul. Amen.



BENEDICTION

"Sir, we wish to see Jesus." St. John, 12:21.

In the June, 1942, issue of the Victorian Magazine, Josephine 
Quirk tells the following incident in an article entitled: "Peace 
Must Be Earned." One Sunday afternoon she went to a reception at 
the home of a friend in Paris. Among the guests were the select of 
the social, artistic and political world in France. All were 
prominent, brilliant and wealthy, but a little soft in their ethics 
and morals.

At 5 o'clock Miss Quirk told her hostess that she was leaving--to 
attend services at Notre Dame Cathedral. When the hostess 
announced this to the guests, laughs and jeers and wisecracks 
followed:

"Don't tell me you'd leave a grand party to go to church!"

"How delightfully old-fashioned!"

"I thought nobody went to Notre Dame but tourists!"

The good-bye of her hostess included this remark:

"Going to Benediction at Notre Dame! How quaint!"

When Paris fell in World War Two Miss Quirk remembered that 
day and those people. She wondered, too, if its fall had not been 
God's way of bringing those moral softies to their senses. In 1941 
she received a letter from her hostess friend, who was still in 
Paris, practically a prisoner of the Nazis, who had stripped her of 
everything she held dear. After telling of the difficulties of 
getting bread, the once wealthy friend wrote:

"I spend hours every day in Notre Dame Cathedral. I find peace 
there and it helps me to bear all this. When I'm kneeling before 
the altar, the hunger passes and I feel that I can go on and take 
whatever they force on us. Something gives me strength that I do 
not get--even from food."

That Parisian woman had learned the hard way the meaning and 
value of the Eucharist and especially of Benediction of the 
Blessed Sacrament. I hope it will not take a war to make you 
realize the value of this simple yet sublime, this short but 
thrilling ceremony of Benediction. The actions performed are 
beautiful and expressive sacramentals. Some of these, like 
incense and candles, will be explained more fully in particular 
talks during this series. Today we would like to explain some of 
the ceremonies of this simple but significant service.

The altar is adorned with lights and flowers. The flowers are 
beautiful fragrant and pleasant to the senses. They represent the 
virtues we should bring to the worship of the Lord, virtues which 
are pleasing to Him. Flowers are an attractive part of creation and 
should pay their tribute of adoration to their Creator.

The lighted candles are made of beeswax a symbol of the pure 
body of Christ. The light is a sign of Christ, the Light of the 
world. The flames show our faith and our love spending 
themselves for Him.

The priest puts on surplice, stole and cope. The surplice is an 
abbreviated form of the alb. the long, white linen garment worn 
by the priest at Mass, and covering the entire body. It was part of 
the ordinary dress in the time of the apostles, and is worn today 
to remind us how old are devotions to the Eucharist.

The stole is a long narrow band of silk worn over the neck and 
adorned with three crosses, one at each end and one in the 
center. The priest kisses the latter cross as he prepares to place it 
over his shoulders. The stole is worn whenever he administers 
the sacraments.

The stole is symbolic of the cords with which Christ was tied; of 
the cross on which Christ died; and of the yoke which Christ 
makes sweet. The priest's burden is heavy and responsible; 
Christ makes it light and sweet.

The stole is also a badge and symbol of priestly authority. At one 
time it was part of priestly dress not only at the altar, but also on 
the street, much as the Roman collar is today.

The cope, from the Latin "casa," which means a little house, is a 
mantlelike cloak reaching to the ankles and fastened at the neck 
with a clasp. It was originally the Roman overcoat with a hood 
that could be drawn up over the head in cold or rainy weather.

Clothed in these vestments, the priest enters the sanctuary, 
genuflects, and kneels on the lowest step for a moment of 
adoration. He ascends the altar, unfolds the corporal, a square 
linen cloth, and places it upon the altar table. He places a similar 
cloth on the place where the monstrance is to rest.

He unlocks the tabernacle, takes out the Sacred Host, inserts it in 
the monstrance, which is set in a conspicuous place above the 
altar or tabernacle so that all can see it.

As the choir and people sing the "O Salutaris," or similar hymn, 
the priest puts incense on the burning coals carried in a censer 
by the servers, and offers fragrant clouds to the King of heaven 
and earth. Incense is a symbol of respect and loyalty and 
adoration. Formerly burned before kings and rulers, it is here a 
sign of prayer and love rising in tribute to the King of kings.

When the choir has sung the "Tantum Ergo," the priest sings a 
prayer beseeching God that we might ever venerate Him here in 
order to feel forever the fruits of His redemption. Then he takes 
the monstrance containing our Lord, turns to the people and, in 
the form of a cross, gives the blessing of Christ Himself.

The priest covers his hands with a shoulder veil to show that this 
is not his own priestly blessing, but the blessing of Christ 
Himself.

Here is the answer to the ache in the heart of the world--to see 
Jesus, to adore Him, to honor Him, the ache expressed by the 
Gentiles, the strangers, to the Apostle Philip when they 
exclaimed:

"Sir, we wish to see Jesus."

Don't you wish to see Jesus? Don't you wish to adore Him in 
person? Don't you wish to honor Him on our altar? Above all, 
don't you wish to receive His very own blessing? Then attend 
Benediction as often as possible, as lovingly as possible.

You will experience, as did our Parisian woman, a peace and a 
help and a strength that you get nowhere else and from nothing 
else. You are seeing the Lord and receiving His blessing. Amen.



BREVIARY

"Seven times a day I have given praise to Thee." Psalm 118:164.

The story is told of a priest who was visiting New York. He took a 
ride in a sight-seeing bus, finding a cool, pleasant seat on the 
open upper deck. As the bus whirled along he decided to say 
some of his Breviary or daily Office. He took out the book and 
began to pray.

But not for long. Some loud-mouthed bigot among the passengers 
noticed the padre praying, and he shouted for everyone to hear:

"When I pray I do what the Bible says, I go into my room and close 
the door and pray in secret."

The priest could not help hearing. Reverently and slowly he 
closed his Breviary, turned around to face the loud-mouth, and in 
a voice everyone could hear said slowly:

"And then you get up on the top of a bus and tell the whole world 
about it."

Not only are bigots ignorant about the Breviary, its contents and 
its meaning, but many Catholics also look upon it as a mysterious 
book. They know little or nothing about it. Yet, that little black 
book which you see so often in the hands of your priest is of 
immense concern and benefit to you.

Breviary means that it is an abridgement or shortening of much 
longer prayers. It is also called divine Office, because office 
means a duty or service. The Office is a priest's daily duty and 
service to God.

The Breviary is the priest's official prayer-book. When he is 
ordained sub-deacon, he receives the obligation of saying these 
prayers every day.

The Breviary comes in four volumes, one for each season of the 
year. A large part of it is made up of the 150 psalms, most of 
which the priest prays in the course of each week.

The daily Office is composed of the following parts: Matins, 
Lauds, Prime, Tierce, Sext, None, Vespers and Compline. Matins 
really means morning prayers, but it can be said the night or even 
the afternoon previous. It consists of three parts called nocturns. 
The first nocturn has three psalms and three readings from the 
Old and the New Testaments. The second nocturn likewise has 
three psalms with three readings usually from the lives of the 
saints. The third nocturn has three psalms and three explanations 
of the Gospel or some other devotional treatise.

Lauds or The Praises has five psalms, a short reading, the 
Canticle or Song of Zachary, and the proper prayer for the day.

The little hours are short in comparison. They are made up of a 
hymn of three or four verses, three psalms, a very short reading, 
and again the proper prayer of the day, which is the same as that 
said at Mass.

Vespers is like Lauds, and Compline, the night prayer of Mother 
Church, is like one of the little hours of the morning in structure. 
Sprinkled throughout and between all these psalms and readings 
are various introductory and concluding verses.

In monasteries and religious houses where the Office is said in 
common, definite parts are recited at more or less definite hours. 
The individual priest, however, has great leeway as to the time 
for saying his Breviary. He may say it at one sitting or break it up 
through the day. Only a very grave reason can excuse him from 
this daily spiritual task.

There are two points which I would like to impress upon you 
good people: first, the excellence of this prayer which the priest 
says every day; and second, the benefits which you lay people 
receive from the priest's Office. In regard to its excellence I 
would point out:

1. The greater part of the priest's daily prayer is made up of the 
inspired Word of God, the Bible. There are parts from the Old and 
the New Testament. The psalms, as I mentioned, are said every 
week at least.

2. Short lives of the saints are read throughout the year, with 
their inspiration and their consolation.

3. There are hymns of high poetic value as well as deep, religious 
thought.

4. There are prayers which cannot be excelled in their brevity, 
their comprehensiveness and their tenderness.

5. The Breviary is excellent because it is recited by the ministers 
of God, His priests and His religious. These have been chosen, 
trained, ordained or professed for the greatest work of man--the 
worship of God.

6. The Office is recited in the name and by the authority of the 
Church. No other prayer has the same value. It is official; it is 
universal; it is unending. It is the official public prayer of the 
Church, just as the Mass is the official sacrifice of the Church.

What is a public prayer? Not necessarily one said on the top of a 
bus with dozens of people looking on or even taking part. If the 
priest of our story had been saying his prayer alone in his room, 
it would be a public prayer, because it was the official prayer of 
the Church. On the other hand, were he to say the Rosary before 
five thousand people it would not be a public prayer.

And how do you good people share in this world-wide prayer? In 
many ways:

1. The priest prays for you and in your name. Every priest has 
two important duties: he must first praise and glorify God 
himself, and then he must beg the mercy of God upon all 
Christian people, and even on those who are not Christian or 
Catholic.

2. This prayer for you goes on night and day. The Church divides 
the priest's office into seven portions as King David sang the 
praises of God seven times a day, so that at every moment in 
darkness and light, on land and sea, individually and in groups, 
priests are praying for you.

3. Priests are not ordained for themselves. They are ordained for 
the people: to serve them, to help them, to lead them, to correct 
them, to encourage them, and above all to pray for them.

The next time you see your priest or any priest with that little 
black book, know that he is busy praying for you.

Surely, that does not free you from the duty of praying. Rather, 
knowing that your priest is daily praying for you about one full 
hour, you should return the favor and pray for him. Amen.



CANDLES

"It was the true light that enlightens every man who comes into the 
world."

St. John, 1:9.

The story of Erna Bilkau and her so-called Mystic Candles is a 
tragic yet triumphant one. Born in Russia, she moved to Germany, 
where she married a German boy. They honeymooned in America, 
learning to love the land of hope and freedom. Back in Germany 
she was separated a few years later from her husband by the war. 
With her two-year-old son she fled to America. She was making a 
modest living for herself and her son when he suddenly became 
seriously ill and passed away at the age of thirteen.

The shock almost drove the mother insane. For months she 
walked the streets every night, peeking with aching agony into 
homes where there were children. Friends tried to console her. To 
no avail.

At last she took refuge with God. She knelt by her bed, and with 
folded hands asked the Almighty to assist her. Peace and courage 
came with her prayer. She put up a crudely constructed altar to 
the memory of her dead boy, and put upon it two lighted candles. 
They seemed to give her new hope.

The candles, however, burned down too quickly. She recalled 
some secrets of candle-making learned from her father. She 
experimented until she developed a candle that would burn down 
the center and not burn the outer shell. It gave off a strange 
mystical glow. She called them her Mystic Candles.

A young couple across the street accepted a few of the candles 
and found in them the courage to make up the differences that 
were slowly driving them to divorce. Others wanted candles like 
them. Others found peace and quiet and courage in having those 
candles in their homes. She was swamped with orders. A thriving 
business developed. In this work she found a release from her 
overwhelming grief. Today thousands find inspiration and help 
in the Mystic Candles of Erna Bilkau, the mother who lost a son.

Inspiring as this story may be, it pales before the ageless, world-
wide story of the Catholic candle, which you see glowing upon 
our altars, which you see in every sacrament except Confession.

Allow me to point out that the candle is one of the oldest and 
most widely used sacramentals in the Church. It is one of the 
richest religious symbols or instruments used to express spiritual 
ideas. What does the candle mean? Why do we use them?

The wax, produced by virgin worker bees, is a beautiful figure of 
the pure body of Christ, born of the Virgin Mary. The wick 
represents the soul of Christ; the flame represents His divinity, 
the fact that He was God. The lighted candle reminds us of 
Christ's gospel, the Holy Bible, which dispels the darkness of sin 
and ignorance; the lighted candle also stands for the Church of 
the living God, the pillar and ground of truth. For the individual 
Christian the candle's flame means the faith that makes us 
"children of the light"; its warmth and heat show us the fiery 
tongues of Pentecost, "which does not consume but enlightens." 
When given to the Church, candles signify Christian self-sacrifice. 
As the burning taper consumes itself, so the Christian should 
burn up his energies in serving God.

Light is one of the most fitting and appropriate symbols of God, 
who is absolutely pure light. Light is pure in itself; light 
penetrates long distances and into farthest corners; light moves 
with unbelievable speed; light awakens and nourishes life in the 
organic kingdom; light brightens with its brilliance all that comes 
within its influence.

1. Holy Scripture makes frequent use of this symbolic meaning:

	a. The wisdom of the Son is spoken of as "the brightness of 
his glory." Hebrews 1:3.

	b. And the psalmist exclaims: "Thou art clothed with light as 
with a garment." Psalm 103:2.

2. Light also represents the mission of our divine Lord upon 
earth. The prophet Isaias (9:2) calls Christ a great light and 
foretells that "to them that dwelt in the region of the shadow of 
death light is risen." The saintly Simeon declared that He is "a 
light to the revelation of the Gentiles, and the glory of Thy people 
Israel." To this St. John added that Christ "was the true light that 
enlightens every man who comes into the world." St. John, 1:9. 
And Christ says of Himself, "I am the light of the world." St. John, 
8:12.

3. Lights are also symbols of respect. They are used on occasions 
when we wish to show more than ordinary deference to 
distinguished personages or to holy things. Even the pagans used 
lights to show honor to their gods and to prominent personages.

The Catholic Church uses blessed beeswax candles at the 
administration of all the sacraments that are given publicly, 
except Confession and in private Baptism, when only water is 
available. She uses them at Mass and Benediction and in other 
church services like blessings and processions. She gives a 
lighted candle to the newly baptized with these solemn words:

"Receive this burning light so as to keep thy Baptism without 
blame. Keep the commandments of God, so that when our Lord 
shall come to His nuptials thou mayest meet Him together with 
all the saints...."

And when that Christian is dying we place a candle in his hand. It 
is not that we need their light, although in the early centuries 
that was their practical use, in the catacombs, in the caves and 
underground passages where the first Catholics had to conduct 
their services.

Mother Church has a higher and a deeper reason than that. She 
uses every possible means for raising our minds to heaven. 
Among the sacramentals the candle is outstanding. We love to 
look at a candle and see in its soft white wax the pure flesh of our 
Infant Savior. We see the wick penetrating the wax, and 
representing the soul of Christ.

Let our candles be true spiritual inspirations to us, even more 
than the candles of Erna Bilkau were to her friends. Have them in 
your home. Use them in times peaceful and times perturbed. 
They represent the true light of the world. Amen.



CEMETERY BLESSING

"The hour is coming in which all who are in the tombs shall hear 
the voice of the Son of God. And they who have done good shall 
come forth unto resurrection of life; but they who have done evil 
unto resurrection of judgment." St. John, 5:28, 29.

In August of 1949 the Associated Press reported that all was well 
in the Gibson Tomb at Sutton, England. Every August 12 since 
1793 an official of the village makes an authorized inspection of 
this tomb to see that the bodies are undisturbed.

It all started 156 years ago in the day of grave robbers, so-called 
resurrection men, who dug up corpses without permission and 
sold the bodies to medical schools for students to dissect. When 
a certain James Gibson wealthy London merchant, passed away, 
his daughter Elizabeth feared this might happen. She had heavy 
railing set up around the tomb and sealed the entrance with a 
thick door and two massive locks.

When she died in 1793 she left a trust fund to pay for an 
inspection of the tomb "every August 12 forever." On that day in 
1949 the vicar of Sutton unlocked the door, walked in, inspected 
the seven coffins, and found everything in order. It is generally 
believed that the Gibson family died out long ago.

The concern of Elizabeth Gibson for the body of her father is in 
line with the reverence of all civilized mankind for the remains of 
loved ones. It is very much in line with the spirit of the Church 
Christ founded. Mother Church even blesses the ground where 
they are buried.

On the eve of the dedication five crosses are planted on the place 
to be blessed, so arranged that they form a cross. The one in the 
center is taller than the other four. Before each cross is a stake 
with three candles.

1. These crosses, symbols of Christianity, indicate that in this 
new cemetery only Catholics are to rest. The Church forbids the 
burial there of Jews, pagans, and all who are not Catholic. The 
reason is that those who do not belong to the Church during life 
cannot be recognized by her after death.

The cross also indicates that those whose bodies rest there 
expect their salvation from Christ who died on the cross. They 
trust in His merits, and in the shadow of His cross they await the 
day of resurrection.

The cross in the center signifies Christ crucified, the center of 
life and death. This large, central cross must be mounted 
accordingly near the middle point of the burial ground. The other 
four crosses at the sides remind us of the consoling fact that the 
doctrine of Christ's death and resurrection has been spread to the 
four corners of the world.

2. The candles, lighted on the day of dedication, remind us that 
we owe the light of the Gospel, and especially the glad tidings of 
the first Easter, to our divine Savior, the Light of the World. They 
remind us of that light eternal which we beg for the departed:

"Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let the perpetual light 
shine upon them."

On the day of dedication the bishop, vested in pontifical robes, 
goes to the principal cross, says a prayer and the Litany of the 
Saints. He asks God to bless, sanctify, and dedicate the cemetery 
that the human bodies resting there may merit, together with 
their souls, the joys of life everlasting. These prayers are said 
before the principal cross which represents Christ, through whom 
we expect the granting of our prayers.

The bishop blesses water, intones the Asperges, and goes from 
cross to cross sprinkling the ground with holy water. Meanwhile 
the choir chants psalms for the dead. At each cross he offers a 
prayer, incenses the cross, takes the three candles from the 
stakes, and puts them on the cross, one on the top, the other two 
on the arms. After a solemn preface he concludes the dedication 
with the following prayer:

"Holy Lord, Almighty Father, Eternal God, Sanctifier and Restorer 
of all places, from whom and through whom all benediction 
descends from heaven upon earth, bless this place that it may be 
a place of peace, a sweet refreshment and a place of rest for the 
dead, whose souls, whilst their bodies are buried here, or are to 
be buried here, may enjoy the sweetness of Thy love and joy and 
exultation, and remain in the heavenly Jerusalem until, on the 
great Day of Judgment, they receive again their bodies out of the 
graves, and thus hasten with the fruit of good works to meet the 
Lord, coming to judgment. Through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our 
Lord. Amen.

Then he gives his blessing to all present and returns to the 
church, where either he or another celebrates Mass. These 
ceremonies are full of instruction and meaning. They are 
inspiring to recall especially during the month of the holy souls.

The holy water reminds us of the penance we must do if we wish 
to die happily. It also reminds us to help the departed souls. As 
ordinary water refreshes the thirsty, so holy water reminds us to 
refresh the Poor Souls with Mass, prayer, penance and works of 
charity.

The lighted candles represent eternal truths and especially Truth 
Himself, the Light of the world. They are attached to the cross 
because Christ, whom they represent, was nailed to the cross.

The incense reminds us that our prayers should be rising up to 
God for the souls of those dwelling in our place of peace.

Not all cemeteries are consecrated. In some communities part of 
the burial ground is consecrated; another part is not. In such 
cases the individual grave is blessed just before the burial.

Your cemetery is a place of honor. It is God's acre, it is a place of 
rest, a place of peace, a place of sleep. It is the blessed bed-room 
of our beloved. The Gibson grave was inspected once a year. But, 
you must go to the grave of your beloved every day, at least in 
prayerful thought. Also try to keep it neat and clean. The blessing 
of a cemetery is an inspiring sacramental. May it be inspiring to 
us. Amen.



CHURCHING OF WOMEN

"I will multiply thy sorrows, and thy conceptions: in sorrow shalt 
thou bring forth children." Genesis. 3:16.

Queen Victoria of England was one day visiting some soldiers 
who had been wounded in South Africa. One young man, broken 
by shot and shell, deeply distressed her.

"Is there anything, son, that I can do for you?" she asked in her 
motherly way.

"Nothing, Your Majesty," answered the soldier, "unless you would 
thank my nurse for her kindness to me."

The queen turned to the nurse and with tears in her eyes said 
warmly:

"With all my heart I do want to thank you for your kindness to 
this poor, wounded son of mine."

What a delicate and beautiful sense of gratitude on the part of 
that young man! He forgot himself. He thought only of giving 
pleasure and praise to the woman who was waiting on him so 
faithfully.

It is with an even more delicate and charming sense of gratitude 
and self-forgetfulness that a Catholic mother comes to church 
after the birth of her child to ask the blessing of the priest and to 
thank God for her safe delivery. Every mother is a soldier. Like a 
soldier she endures heroically the discomforts of child-bearing. 
Like a soldier she sacrifices the unimportant for the great task 
that is hers. Like a soldier she goes down into the valley of 
suffering, even into the valley of death, ready and willing to give 
life itself to perform her duty.

One would think that all the gratitude should be given her. Yet, 
though we honor mothers for what they have done and endured, 
it is mother herself who realizes her debt of gratitude to Almighty 
God for the high honor which He has given her.

All the peoples of the world kept a memory of the sentence of 
suffering which God pronounced on the first mother and all 
mothers:

"I will multiply thy sorrows, and thy conceptions; in sorrow shalt 
thou bring forth children."

Among the Jews it was ceremonial law that a woman was 
considered unclean after childbirth, because woman had been the 
first to transgress the law of God. Sin came through a woman, 
Eve; redemption came through a woman, Mary.

Churching is an outgrowth and perfection of the Mosaic rite. 
However, there are essential differences. The Jewish rite 
presumed legal defilement; the Catholic ceremony presumes 
honorable motherhood. The Jewish rite was necessary before a 
mother could assist at religious services; the Christian rite is an 
act of thanksgiving. The Jewish rite was of obligation; the 
Catholic ceremony does not bind even under pain of venial sin.

In a spirit of humility, and because Mary did it, Christian women 
of the early centuries began to ask the blessing of the priest, 
began to make their first visit to the altar one of thanksgiving for 
a safe delivery.

This blessing may be given only to those whose children were 
born in lawful wedlock. The Church urges, but does not oblige, 
mothers to receive it. The mother need not bring her child with 
her; many do. The blessing may be given to those whose baby 
died, even without Baptism.

Ordinarily the pastor or his representative has the right to give 
this blessing. Churching may take place wherever Mass can be 
celebrated.

The woman shall kneel at the door of church, holding a lighted 
candle. In surplice and white stole the priest sprinkles her with 
holy water, and recites the twenty-third psalm. He presents her 
the end of his stole which hangs from his left shoulder, which 
she takes with her right hand. They march up to the altar, as the 
priest prays:

"Enter into the temple of God, adore the Son of the Blessed Virgin 
Mary, who has given thee fruitfulness of offspring."

After certain verses and responses, and the Our Father, the priest 
offers this prayer:

"Almighty, everlasting God, who through the delivery of the 
Blessed Virgin Mary hast changed the pains of childbirth into joy, 
look mercifully on this Thy handmaid, who comes in gladness to 
Thy temple to offer thanksgiving; and grant that, after this life, 
through the merits and intercession of the same Blessed Mary, 
she may be found worthy to attain, together with her offspring, to 
the joys of everlasting happiness. Through Christ our Lord. 
Amen."

In the United States the priest does not generally meet the woman 
at the church door, but at the altar rail. He stands at the inner 
side of the railing to perform the ceremony. Often more than one 
woman is blessed at the same time.

The churching of women is done in imitation of the Blessed 
Virgin who presented herself in the temple for purification. Mary 
made an offering at that time. It is customary, though not 
necessary, to make one at the time of churching. Many priests 
turn the money back to the mother with the words:

"Get something for the baby."

Our Blessed Mother is interested in all mothers. You mothers 
want to be as much like Mary as possible. Like her go to God's 
temple and receive the blessing of Mother Church on yourself 
and your child.

What a contrast between the woman who shuns childbirth, the 
woman who shuns by sinful means her sublime dignity of 
motherhood, what a contrast between her and the woman who 
has her baby and then asks God to bless her joy and her 
privilege. What a contrast between the woman who complains 
against God when He asks her to share in His powers of creation, 
and the woman who comes to thank God for that high honor.

You guess which of the two will be more favored of God in this 
life, and especially which of the two will be more favored of God 
in the life to come. Amen.



CONFESSION, CEREMONIES OF

"There is a shame that bringeth sin, and there is a shame that 
bringeth glory and grace." Ecclus., 4:25.

Under Louis XIV France was at war with Holland. A young officer 
of the French army called upon Fenelon, the saintly archbishop of 
Cambrai.

"Your Lordship," said the soldier, "I am ordered to the front to 
engage in a battle that will soon take place. I feel urged to make a 
confession of my sins. Before doing so, however, I would like you 
to prove to me the divine institution of the Sacrament of 
Penance."

"I am at your service," His Grace replied, "and since the shortest 
way is the best way, I advise you to go to confession first of all."

The officer objected that it would be just like trying a thing in 
order to understand it. How could he learn that God established 
confession by trying it?

"My son," explained the archbishop, "theoretically that is true, but 
let me assure you with all the weight of experience that this is 
nevertheless the surest and shortest way."

The fellow, persuaded by the tone of authority, made a 
confession. When it was over the churchman offered to instruct 
him further.

"It is not necessary, Your Grace," smiled the soldier, "I am not 
only convinced of the necessity of confession, I feel it."

That is the experience of everyone who has ever made a sincere 
confession. The reason is two-fold: first, the penitent knows 
positively that his sins are forgiven; secondly, he finds in the 
ceremonies of confession spiritual helps and inspiration. Those 
simple ceremonies, consoling sacramentals that they are, bring 
many graces. Let us consider their meaning and keep them in 
mind:

1. As you enter church you genuflect to our Lord in the Blessed 
Sacrament. You kneel before the same Jesus who forgave sins 
Himself, and who gave the power of forgiving sins to the leaders 
of His Church. Give Him a thought.

2. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you make a good confession. When 
Jesus gave the power of forgiving sins He said:

"Receive the Holy Spirit; whose sins you shall forgive, they are 
forgiven them; and whose sins you shall retain, they are 
retained." St. John, 20:23.

The priest needs the help of the Holy Spirit to guide you and 
absolve you; you need the help of the Holy Spirit to make a good 
confession. It is enough to say:

"Holy Spirit, help me make a good confession."

3. You may examine your conscience or think of your sins in 
several ways:

	a. Think of all Ten Commandments of God and the Church 
Laws.

	b. Think back to your last good confession and your serious 
sins will stand out.

	c. Examine yourself on those commandments which you 
generally violate. You must confess all mortal sins, their number 
and their kind. You are advised to confess also your venial sins.

4. Next comes the most important part of your confession, 
namely, contrition or sorrow for sin. Kneeling before Jesus who 
died for your sins, you should be able to excite true sorrow for 
your disobedience.

5. It is also necessary to tell God that you will try to avoid that 
sin or those sins in the future. This firm purpose of amendment 
is another essential.

6. While preparing and waiting for confession stay at a distance 
to avoid hearing anything from the confessional. Should you hear 
anything, you are bound to absolute secrecy.

7. In the confessional kneel down. That is a ceremony of 
humility. You are kneeling before God's representative. As you 
enter the priest blesses you:

"May the Lord be in thy heart and on thy lips, that thou mayest 
make a sincere and entire confession of all thy sins. In the name 
of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen."

Making the sign of the cross, remember that through the death of 
Christ on the cross your sins are forgiven.

8. Begin your confession with some simple, clear sentence like 
this:

"Bless me, Father, for I have sinned...." Or, "I confess to Almighty 
God, and to you, father, that I have sinned...my last confession 
was two weeks ago." Then mention your sins.

9. It is not necessary to say that you received absolution, said 
your penance, and received Holy Communion. If you did not 
receive absolution or did not say your penance, mention that and 
tell the priest why. If you did not receive Holy Communion 
mention the reason.

10. Tell your sins simply, clearly, briefly. You must tell all your 
mortal sins--the kind of mortal sins and the number of times, at 
least about how often. You are advised to confess also your 
venial sins. When you are finished let the priest know by saying 
something like this:

"For these and all my sins I am heartily sorry."

In general don't drag out your confession with useless details. On 
the other hand, there is no need for rushing or hurrying. If you 
want advice, ask for it. If you want or need help, ask for it.

11. Listen attentively to the advice of the priest, and answer 
simply and clearly any questions he may ask. He is guided by the 
Holy Spirit.

12. The priest recites four short prayers as he gives you 
absolution. During the third prayer, he makes the sign of the 
cross over you as he says the words:

"I absolve you from your sins in the name of the Father and of the 
Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen."

13. On leaving the confessional say your penance immediately. 
Any time before your next confession is permitted, but say your 
penance at once, lest you forget it.

14. Again direct your gaze and your heart to our Lord in the 
Blessed Sacrament and thank Him for this great gift of grace and 
mercy.

Like that French officer, anyone who has ever made a good 
confession knows from experience that it is something divine, 
something out of this world. Some of these ceremonies are 
sacramentals; others are customs. They help to put us into the 
proper spiritual disposition for this great boon of forgiveness. 
Amen.



CONFIRMATION, CEREMONIES OF

"Then they laid their hands on them and they received the Holy 
Ghost." Acts of the Apostles, 8:18.

Before being elected head of the Catholic Church, Pope Pius IX 
was the bishop of Imola. One day he was in a great hurry to begin 
a long journey on some urgent business. As he was about to step 
into his carriage, a poorly dressed and weeping woman stopped 
him.

"Come quickly, Your Lordship," she cried. "My little boy is dying, 
and he has not yet been confirmed."

When the bishop learned that the lad had already gone to 
confession, had received Viaticum and Extreme Unction, he 
answered:

"I am sorry, little mother. I must make this journey at once. Don't 
worry. Your boy will go to heaven even if he has not been 
confirmed."

Clinging to the bishop's cloak, the woman persisted: "I know all 
that, my Lord. But for all eternity his soul will lack the beauty 
which Confirmation would give it. For all eternity he will go 
unadorned by the sign that marks the soldier of Christ."

The saintly bishop was convinced. He called for the holy chrism. 
His business, however urgent, must wait. Here was business for 
eternity.

That mother knew her religion. She knew the value and benefits 
of Confirmation. She knew that this sacrament gave a special 
mark and strength and beauty to the soul. All these she wanted 
for her son--here and hereafter.

The ceremonies of this wonderful sacrament are true 
sacramentals. They go back to the very time of Christ and the 
Apostles. We read of them in the Bible. We read of them in early 
Christian times. They are some of the most expressive in all 
liturgy.

1. The person to be confirmed must have already received 
Baptism, because Confirmation is to Baptism what growth is to 
birth. Just as one must be born before he can attain full growth, 
so one must have spiritual life before he can be strengthened and 
grow in that life.

2. There are two other important dispositions for the recipient of 
this sacrament:

	a. He must be instructed in the principal truths of religion, 
especially on the nature of Confirmation.

	b. He must be in the state of grace, because Confirmation is 
a sacrament of the living.

3. There are several important conditions for the sponsor, but 
time will not permit our mentioning them.

4. After the singing of the "Veni Creator," the bishop vests, and 
with his hands joined begins:

"May the Holy Ghost come upon you, and the power of the Most 
High keep you from sins. Amen."

5. He extends his hands over the candidates and prays: 30

"Almighty and eternal God, who has vouchsafed to regenerate 
these Thy servants by water and the Holy Ghost, and hast given 
them forgiveness of all their sins: send forth from heaven upon 
them Thy sevenfold Spirit, the Holy Comforter . . .The Spirit of 
wisdom and understanding . . . The Spirit of counsel and 
fortitude . . . The Spirit of knowledge and piety . . . Fill them with 
the Spirit of Thy fear, and sign them with the sign of the cross of 
Christ, in Thy mercy, unto life eternal. Through the same Lord 
Jesus Christ, etc."

6. Seated at the altar, or moving along the rail, the bishop dips 
his right thumb in the holy chrism, places the outstretched 
fingers of his right hand on the head, and with the oil makes the 
sign of the cross on the forehead, saying:

"John (or whatever name the person has chosen) I sign thee with 
the sign of the cross, and I confirm thee with the chrism of 
salvation. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the 
Holy Ghost. Amen."

He anoints the forehead because:

	a. It is the most conspicuous part of the body. It is open and 
visible to the world.

	b. It is on the forehead that false shame, as well as true 
modesty and conviction of principles, show themselves. The 
Christian must glory in his title, wear it, as it were, upon his 
forehead.

7. The sign of the cross shows that Confirmation, like all the 
other sacraments draws its power from the cross, the standard, 
the banner of the one confirmed, the new soldier of Christ.

8. The extending of the hands over the candidates, and the 
stretching out of the fingers over each candidate's head, show 
that the Holy Ghost is covering with His graces the souls of those 
being confirmed. The Holy Spirit is taking possession, taking 
control and command.

9 The bishop gives the one confirmed a slight blow on the cheek 
to teach him:

	a. That this sacrament gives him courage and strength to 
suffer insult and injury for the sake of Jesus Christ.

	b. That patience in trials brings peace to the soul.

10. The bishop concludes the ceremony by turning to the altar 
and praying:

"O God, who didst give to Thine Apostles the Holy Ghost, and 
didst ordain that by them and their successors He should be 
given to the rest of the faithful; look mercifully upon our 
unworthy service; and grant that the hearts of those whose 
foreheads we have anointed with holy chrism and signed with the 
sign of the holy cross, may by the same Holy Spirit coming down 
upon them and graciously abiding with them, be made the temple 
of His glory."

In these ceremonies the Christian becomes a soldier of Christ. He 
receives strength to know and profess his faith. He receives the 
grace and help to work for God and the things of God. He receives 
the heavenly help we all need to walk in the footsteps of Christ. 
He receives a new indelible character, a new spiritual beauty, 
which the mother in our story appreciated very deeply, a beauty 
the confirmed will treasure in this life, a beauty you must 
treasure now, a beauty that will brighten the soul of the 
confirmed through all eternity. Amen.



CORDS, BLESSED

"They drew up Jeremias with the cords, and brought him forth out 
of the dungeon." Jeremias. 38:13.

Jeremias was one of the great prophets of the Old Testament. God 
had made known to him many of the misfortunes that were to 
come upon the Jewish people. The prophet was pathetic in his 
appeal to the chosen people to be true to their God. He saw the 
holy city of Jerusalem overrun with vice which he knew would 
ruin his country. Again and again he warned his fellow citizens of 
the calamities that would come upon them. His zeal displeased 
the wicked and angered those in power. He saw the gathering 
storm of persecution. But, undaunted, he continued to preach in 
even more animated and vigorous terms.

The wicked princes could stand him no longer. They asked King 
Sedecias for permission to throw the prophet into a cistern of 
deep mud. Though he admired Jeremias, the king weakly yielded. 
The preacher was thrown into a cistern where he surely would 
have stifled to death in a short time, had not an officer of the 
king by the name of Abdemelech begged the king to free the 
prophet. How they drew him out is interesting. Let Scripture tell 
it:

"So Abdemelech taking the men with him, went into the king's 
house that was under the storehouse: and he took from thence 
old rags, and old rotten things, and he let them down by cords to 
Jeremias into the dungeon.

"And Abdemelech said to Jeremias: Put these old rags and these 
rent and rotten things under thy arms, and upon the cords: and 
Jeremias did so.

"And they drew up Jeremias with the cords, and brought him 
forth out of the dungeon." Jeremias, 38:11-13.

Who would have thought that old rags and rotten things and 
cords could be the means of saving the life of a great man of 
God? Yet, by means of those material things the prophet was 
drawn forth from the dungeon of death.

In a similar but more spiritual way the Church uses cords to help 
save the souls of her children. A cord may seem a trifling, 
insignificant thing, but if it can save a prophet of God from 
physical death, it can also save a child of God from spiritual 
death. Blessed cords are sacramentals. They are cinctures or 
ropes worn by the members of certain pious associations in 
honor of some saint, to keep in mind some special grace or favor 
which they hope to obtain through that saint's intercession. Four 
such cinctures have been approved and indulgenced by Mother 
Church.

1. One is the black leathern belt of the Archconfraternity of Our 
Lady of Consolation, or of the Black Belt of St. Monica, St. 
Augustine, and St. Nicholas of Tolentino. According to tradition 
St. Monica in a vision received a black leathern belt from the 
Blessed Virgin, who assured the holy widow that she would take 
under her special protection all those who wore it in her honor. 
St. Ambrose girded St. Augustine with it at the latter's Baptism. 
After the canonization of St. Nicholas it came into general use 
among the faithful. All confraternities of the black leather belt 
must be affiliated with the archconfraternity at Bologna in order 
to share its privileges and indulgences. The members are obliged 
to wear this black leather belt, to recite daily thirteen Our Fathers 
and Hail Marys, and the Salve Regina. They must fast on the vigil 
of the feast of St. Augustine, August 2. The general of the 
Augustinians has the faculties for this archconfraternity.

2. The Archconfraternity of the Cord of St. Francis of Assisi is 
perhaps the most wide-spread and well-known. After his 
conversion the Little Poor Man of Assisi girded himself with a 
rough cord over a rough habit in memory of the cords with which 
Christ had been bound during His passion. Later a white cord 
with three knots came to form a part of the Franciscan habit. As 
such, it is worn by more than four million members of the three 
orders of St. Francis.

Besides the ordinary requirements for the gaining of all plenary 
and partial indulgences, the wearing of the cord and enrollment 
in the archconfraternity are the only conditions imposed on 
members. Membership in one does not require membership in 
the Third Order.

3. Regarding the Archconfraternity of the Cord of St. Joseph we 
recall the miraculous cure of an Augustinian nun at Antwerp in 
1657 through the wearing of a cord in honor of St. Joseph. This 
gave rise to the pious practice of wearing it to obtain the grace of 
purity through his intercession. Members must wear a cord with 
seven knots, and are urged to recite seven times daily the Glory 
Be. They must be affiliated with the church of San Rocco at Rome.

4. The Confraternity of the Cord of St. Thomas took its start from 
the incident in his life when the Angelic Doctor resisted a 
temptation to impurity. As a reward angels girded him with a 
cord that protected him against all such temptations in the 
future. To obtain a similar grace of purity many wear the cord of 
St. Thomas. Members must have their names enrolled, must wear 
a cord with fifteen knots and recite daily fifteen Hail Marys in 
honor of St. Thomas.

When any of these four types of religious cords is blessed it 
becomes a helpful sacramental, helping the wearer to rise from 
the dungeon of despair and doubt and indifference to new graces 
and spiritual blessings.

A cord was the means of saving the prophet Jeremias. Every day 
cords and ropes are used to save people who are drowning, 
people in burning buildings, people in dangerous situations.

Likewise, religious cords are the means of helping millions to 
remember the thrilling example of the saint they honor. By that 
remembrance they are helped spiritually.

One might say, for example, that the Franciscan cord encircles 
the globe, in the sense that the members of the three orders and 
the works and missions of all three orders encircle the world. 
May that cord help pull the world up closer to God. Amen.



CRIB

"You will find an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in 
a manger." St. Luke, 2:12.

It is Christmas midnight at the church of St. Mary Major in Rome. 
The tremendous basilica is bulging with eager pilgrims and 
knowing natives. As a procession crawls snail-pace toward the 
sanctuary the congregation is all eyes. The clergy are carrying the 
relics of the crib in which our Lord rested at Bethlehem, carrying 
it to the main altar where it will remain during the midnight 
Mass.

Is it really the crib of Christ? Yes, it is at least a part of the crib. 
Some call it "the relics of the crib"; others call it "the remains of 
the crib." Actually there are five pieces of board identified as 
coming from a species of sycamore tree common in the Holy 
Land. Of the five pieces at St. Mary Major two originally stood 
upright in the shape of an X. The other three pieces rested upon 
these two and were supported by the sixth piece, which is now 
missing. These were the supports of the manger in which Christ 
lay at Bethlehem.

St. Helena, discoverer of the true cross, also found the true crib. 
With womanly care she covered it with silver plates and 
surrounded the sacred cave with slabs of precious marble. There 
it was venerated until the year 624 when the Mohammedans 
invaded Palestine and endangered all such holy relics. The crib 
was brought to Rome and placed in the church of St. Mary Major, 
which since has been called St. Mary at the Crib.

Knowing this, the stranger and the native experience an 
understandable thrill when at Christmas midnight those precious 
relics of the manger are carried affectionately to the high altar, 
where they remain during the midnight Mass.

Mother Church wants similar sentiments in the hearts of all the 
rest of us who do not have the privilege of visiting the grotto of 
the Nativity at Bethlehem or the church of St. Mary at the Crib. 
The Catholic Church, with a growing number of non-Catholics 
imitating her, has the beautiful custom of reproducing the scene 
at the birth of Christ. We call it simply the crib. When blessed it is 
one of our most attractive sacramentals.

In general there are two types of Christmas crib. One is a simple 
form consisting of a shed under which are grouped statues of the 
principal characters of that first Holy Night. The other, more 
complete, represents not only the stable and the people who were 
in it, but also the surrounding--the sky, the star, the angels, the 
shepherds, the animals, the sleeping city.

This more complete type of crib was developed and made 
popular by St. Francis of Assisi in the first quarter of the 
thirteenth century. He did not originate the custom, but with his 
life-like stable at Greccio and by the zeal of his Franciscan 
followers, he has done more to spread this beautiful Christmas 
practice than any other single person or group.

The manger must be in our Christmas planning. More than trees 
or holly or Santa Claus himself, a crib expresses the meaning and 
spirit of Christmas. Set one up in your home by all means. At 
least visit the crib in your parish church, kneel before it, and 
listen to what the crib will tell you.

It tells you that the Lord of heaven and earth chose to be born not 
to a life of silver and silk, not in the palaces of the powerful, nor 
in the mansions of the mighty, but in the poorest of poor places--
a stable. He entered this world in that way as a rebuke to the 
pride and greed and craving for comfort that make men forget 
God.

Christ was born in a barn at Bethlehem

--to teach us humility. Those who know not and follow not Christ 
are continually seeking honors and fame and publicity. Here at 
the crib is the cure for that empty and worm-eaten yearning.

--to teach us poverty of spirit. Not that we are to seek poverty as 
a good or end in itself, but as the means to a higher good. The 
poor in spirit are not attached to bank-books and bill-folds. They 
give their attachments to the Creator of all these things. Ask the 
Infant Christ for a true spirit of poverty.

--to show us how to deny ourselves for the sake of God and for 
the sake of our soul. It was cold and uncomfortable in that stable. 
It was smelly and cramped. What a correction for our constant 
quest of creature comforts I

But the most important reason Christ chose to be born as a 
helpless Babe is to draw us to Himself, to win our love. What is 
more lovable than a child? What human being creates more 
confidence than a baby? What calls out our affection and the best 
in us more than a helpless infant? God wants our love. He wants 
our attention and our affection. He knew He would get it as a 
little child. He knew that was the best way to draw us closer to 
the source of all true joy and peace--Himself.

The crib of Christ has been set up in every corner of the earth, in 
every city and hamlet. Those who kneel before it may be of 
different color and tongue, but they all know that the crib has but 
one purpose--to teach the real meaning of Christmas, to teach us 
in a way we can see and understand, that the Son of God became 
a tiny Child to win our love.

We need not travel to St. Mary Major in Rome to hear the lessons 
of the crib. Hear them in the scene beneath your Christmas tree, 
and in your parish church. See there a little Infant with arms 
outstretched, outstretched with longing for your heart and your 
devotion. Give Him your love this Christmas. It is the gift He 
wants.

And His gifts? Oh, I cannot tell you about them. You must receive 
them yourself. You must experience them. Kneel before the crib 
and you will receive those gifts. Amen.



CROSS, SIGN OF

"God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus 
Christ." Galatians, 6:14

In April of 1945 American artillery in the town of Siegburg, 
Germany, was shelling a nearby village, in which there were 
about 20 German soldiers. The natives were in constant danger of 
being hit by bullets from either side. Toward evening of April 12 
the people persuaded the German soldiers to cease fire.

Next morning the village priest carried a white flag to the 
American outpost to inform the commander that the German 
soldiers had gone and the civilian population had no desire to 
resist further. Instructions were given to fly white flags from all 
the houses.

The question uppermost in the minds of the towns-people was: 
How will the Americans treat us? They had heard terrible tales of 
cruelty on the part of the Russians. How would these conquerors 
act?

The Americans began a thorough search for weapons and German 
soldiers. Two soldiers armed with pistols came to a certain three-
room home. They stopped short in the living room before a hand-
carved family altar. Into the bedroom they went, to find there a 
beautiful crucifix.

The soldiers noticed the cross. They stopped, took off their steel 
helmets, changed their automatics from right hand to left, and 
respectfully made the sign of the cross. As a member of the 
family related, the members of that household feared no longer.

Yes, the sign of the cross is the salute of the true follower of 
Christ whether he is conqueror or conquered, whether he is 
German, Chinese, American or Australian. It is the countersign of 
the Christian. In particular, it is the special salute of the Catholic.

The sign of the cross is one of the most important and one of the 
most frequently used of the sacramentals. It is the sacred sign 
first taught to the feeble fingers of the child at its mother's knee; 
it is the sacred sign traced by the faltering fingers of the dying 
Catholic. From birth to death it is the holy sign, the holy 
ceremony that continually reminds the Catholic of the source 
from which all spiritual blessings come--the cross.

The two most common forms of this sacramental are the large 
sign of the cross made by touching the forehead, the breast, and 
the left and right shoulders. The cross thus covers the body--at 
least the most important members--the head and heart. The 
smaller sign of the cross is traced upon the forehead, lips, and 
breast.

1 Why do we make the sign of the cross?

	a. To remind us of the Blessed Trinity--Father, Son and Holy 
Ghost. We repeat their names.

	b. To remind us that the Son of God died on a cross for all 
men. Before Calvary it was a sign of disgrace. Christ made it a 
thing of glory and power.

	c. To stir up our faith. It recalls that God is one and God is 
three; it recalls that the Second Person of the Trinity died for all 
men; it professes our faith; it identifies the Catholic. That is why 
the family of our story felt so secure, so much safer, as soon as 
they saw those American soldiers make the sacred sign.

	d. To strengthen our hope. By making this sacred sign we 
express the hope that through the cross all blessings will come to 
us.

	e. To kindle and feed our charity. Making this sign recalls 
the limitless love of Him who died upon the cross. We determine 
to return love for love.

2. The uses of this sacred sign in the Catholic Church are 
practically without limit:

	a. According to many our Lord and the Apostles used it. 
Many affirm that our Lord blessed the Apostles with the sign of 
the cross on the day of His Ascension. Certainly the early 
Christians used it constantly.

	b. It is used in all the public worship of our Church:

		i. The sign of the cross in some form or other is 
		    made about 54 times during Holy Mass.

		ii. It is used frequently in the Divine Office or daily 
		    prayer of the priest.

		iii. It is used in all blessings bestowed by bishop and 
		     priest. iv. It is used in all the sacraments: 14 times 
		     in Baptism; 17 times in Extreme Unction. Yes, even 
		     in the semi-darkness of the confessional the priest 
		     makes the sign of the cross over you.

		v. It is used in everything blessed for the service of
 		    God--altars, linens, holy water, etc.

	c. It is used frequently in personal devotions:

		i. In the morning and evening to seek God's help.

		ii. Before and after prayer, against distractions. 

		iii. Before and after meals, asking God's blessing. 

		iv. In dangers of soul, like temptation and occasions 
		     of sin.

		v. In dangers of body like storms, sickness, travel. 

		vi. Before our chief actions and undertakings, to make 
		     them pleasing to God and to obtain God's help in 
		     performing them properly.

Let me quote the instructive words of St. Gaudentius:

"Let the sign of the cross be continually made on the heart, on the 
mouth, on the forehead, at table, at the bath, in bed, coming in 
and going out, in joy and sadness, sitting, standing, speaking, 
walking--in short, in all our actions. Let us make it on our breasts 
and all our members, that we may be entirely covered with this 
invincible armor of Christians."

An indulgence of 100 days is granted for making the sign of the 
cross and saying the words. An indulgence of 300 days for 
making the sign of the cross, with holy water.

A love and devotion toward this sacred sign is the mark of a true 
follower of Christ. Just as it identified those two American 
soldiers as genuine Catholics, so the sign of the cross will 
identify you. Use it frequently, use it thoughtfully, use it lovingly. 
It will bring you countless blessings. Amen.



CRUCIFIX

"Truly he was the Son of God." St. Matthew, 27:54.

Mrs. Clare Sheridan, the famous sculptress, is a cousin of Winston 
Churchill. Her renown is international. Recently she staged her 
first exhibition in Ireland. It featured a crucifix carved from a 
three-branched cherry tree. This crucifix was instrumental in 
bringing her into the Church two years before.

When the idea of carving a crucifix came to her, she asked her 
brother a soldier on furlough, to serve as the model. Clad in a 
loincloth, he hung for a few painful minutes at a time with his 
hands thrust through ropes fixed to the cross-bar. She hastily 
made a small clay model. With this model before her she labored 
for months on her crucifix. Later she related:

"It almost seemed as if He breathed. I found myself asking: 'Is it 
true? Did it really happen?'"

The sculptress declared that she learned more through carving 
that figure than in all the years of her life. It was then she 
decided to become a Catholic. She was received at Assisi, Italy. 
She later chose to locate in Galway, Ireland, at the encouragement 
of Bishop Browne, who wished to place her famous crucifix in his 
future cathedral.

Everyone who thoughtfully looks at a crucifix will find himself 
asking the same questions:

"Is it true? Did it really happen?"

The representation of our Lord upon the cross is one of the oldest 
and most widespread of the sacramentals. In every type of 
material, in every form and color sculptors and painters have 
represented the death of the God-man. In every size and shape 
Catholics carry a crucifix, place it in their homes and schools and 
institutions. Never do we want to forget that Jesus died for all of 
us. Never do we want to forget that He went to the lengths of love 
by dying for us. The crucifix tells us three things:

1. Who suffered for us? 

2. What He suffered for us? 

3. Why He suffered for us.

1. Who is it hanging upon this cross?

	a. It is the all-good Son of God who became Man for our 
redemption. It is the Creator of all things suffering for the 
creature. It is Holiness Himself hanging there. It is Love Himself 
hanging there.

	b. That He was "truly the Son of God" is proven from the 
wonders that accompanied His death:

		i. Darkness covered the earth from the sixth to the 
		   ninth hour. It was not an ordinary eclipse of the sun, 
		   because the moon was then at the full, because such 
		   an eclipse can last eight minutes at the most, and 
		   because there is no record in astronomy of an eclipse 
		   that year.

		ii. The veil of the temple was rent in two. (St. Matthew, 
		     27:51.) 

		iii. The earth quaked, rocks were rent, graves were 
		     opened. (Same passage)

All these terrible happenings make us exclaim with the centurion:

"Truly he was the Son of God."

2. What did Christ suffer?

	a. His torments were so severe that the mere anticipation of 
them caused a sweat of blood.

	b. Our Lord suffered torture in every part of His body: 

		i. He was scourged unmercifully. 

		ii. He was crowned with thorns. 

		iii. He was forced to carry His cross over a stony street. 

		iv. He was nailed through hands and feet. 

		v. He suffered agonizing thirst.

	c. His mental sufferings also were extreme: 

		i. There was the sense of love unreturned. 

		ii. There was ingratitude for His many favors 
		     and miracles. 

		iii. There was aching sympathy for His bereaved 
		      mother.

3. Why did Christ suffer?

	a. He suffered in order to deliver us from our sins, from our 
deep debt of punishment.

	b. He suffered to reconcile us to God and to reopen the gates 
of heaven. 

	c. He suffered to make for us a satisfaction full and 
complete and most acceptable to God.

	d. He suffered to leave us an example of every virtue.

	e. To save man from the state of sin it was not absolutely 
necessary that God should demand such suffering. Christ could 
have saved us by a mere act of His all-powerful will. But He 
endured those terrible tortures to show us how precious we were 
to Him, and to give us a divine example which we could imitate.

4. All these thoughts we read in every crucifix. No wonder we 
treasure the Figure on the cross. No wonder we place it 
everywhere to remind us continually of the things it teaches:

	a. We place it above our altar to remind us that the holy 
sacrifice of the cross is repeated thereon.

	b. We place it in our homes and bedrooms to remind us to 
live continually in the light of its lessons.

	c. We hang the crucifix in our classrooms and buildings of 
mercy to show that all we undertake is done in and for Him who 
died on it.

	d. We place it in our sickrooms and in the hands of our 
dying to remind us of the patience and forbearance of Christ 
crucified.

	e. We carry it on our persons that we may carry out what it 
signifies.

	f. We hang it on our Rosaries, we etch it on our books and 
doorways, we reach up and place it on the steeples of our 
churches, we place life-giving lessons.

Make the most of this sacramental. Ask yourself, as did Mrs. 
Sheridan while carving her crucifix:

"Is it true? Did it really happen?"

Then also ask yourself:

"What does it mean?"

"Who is that hanging there?"

"Why did He suffer so?"

Your crucifix will answer those questions for you, and bring you 
with the answers a more abundant spiritual life. Amen.



DEVOTIONS

"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down 
from the Father of Lights, with whom there is no change or 
shadow of alteration." St. James, 1:17.

Back in May of 1891 a crew of men began drilling for gas on the 
property of an orphan home at Lackawanna, New York, the site of 
the famous institutions of mercy under the protection of Our 
Lady of Victory.

"Father Baker must be mad."

"This is folly, sheer folly."

Many remarks like these were made, because no one expected to 
find gas in that region, no one except good Father Baker, the 
saintly founder of these institutions. His fuel bill had mounted 
beyond his financial abilities. He decided to drill for gas.

Weeks ran into months. They were down 600 feet, and still no 
gas. Father Baker and his charges made one novena after another. 
They were attending Benediction on the eighth day of the novena 
before the Assumption of our Blessed Mother. A boy suddenly 
burst into the chapel, tiptoed up to the kneeling priest, and 
whispered something into his ear.

There was a thrill in father's announcement that gas had been 
discovered at a depth of 1,145 feet. The flow was so plentiful that 
it supplied not only the buildings and needs of Father Baker, but 
also those of many neighbors.

Instances like this, of answer to prayer in the form of novenas 
and other religious practices could be multiplied by the 
thousands. Such a novena to our Blessed Mother is one of many 
popular devotions in the Church. Each of these devotions taps the 
well of God's blessings in a material and a spiritual way. Such 
devotions are sacramentals; they are religious practices approved 
by Mother Church and calculated to nourish piety. They are so 
varied and numerous that it would be impossible to mention all 
of them in one talk. We will, therefore, give some general 
divisions, with emphasis upon those which are more popular and 
appealing. We might divide all devotions into three classes 
according as they refer to our Lord, the Blessed Virgin, or to the 
Saints.

1. Among the principal devotions to our Savior we mention: 

	a. Devotion to the Blessed Sacrament:

		i. Frequent Communion aims to give the Eucharistic 
		   Christ love for love by cooperating with His burning 
		   desire to give Himself to us.

		ii. Communion of Reparation attempts to make amends 
		    to Him for the indifference, ingratitude, and insults 
		    offered to the Eucharist. 

		iii. Visits to the Blessed Sacrament offer Him adoration, 
		      thanks, petitions and reparation.

		iv. Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament brings us the 
		     blessing of our Lord Himself.

		v. Perpetual Adoration is an effort to have someone 
		    continually before the Blessed Sacrament.

		vi. Forty Hours tries to do the same thing throughout a 
		     diocese.

		vii. The Holy Hour is a time spent with others before 
		       the exposed Blessed Sacrament.

	b. Devotion to the Holy Childhood refers to the Child Jesus 
in His birth, circumcision, Epiphany, Presentation, and among the 
doctors of the temple.

c. Devotion to the Passion of Christ takes the form of:

		i. Honoring the mysteries and phases of his passion 
		   and death.

		ii. Recalling His passion every Friday, the day on which 
		    He died for us. 

		iii. Honoring His Precious Blood. 

		iv. Venerating the cross.

		v. Making the Way of the Cross or the Stations.

	d. Devotion to the Sacred Heart, especially by making the 
Nine First Fridays.

2. Devotion to the Blessed Virgin expresses itself in:

	a. Celebrating her feasts and privileges.

	b. Consecrating every Saturday to her.

	c. Keeping the month of May and October.

	d. Reciting her Rosary or her Little Office.

	e. Saying the Angelus.

	f. Wearing the scapular and the miraculous medal.

	g. Belonging to some confraternity or congregation in her 
honor, like the Sodality.

	h. Honoring her sorrows.

	i. Honoring her joys. This is a Franciscan devotion which we 
followers of St. Francis keep by honoring the seven principal joys 
of Mary in the Franciscan Crown or Rosary of seven decades.

3. Devotion to the saints:

	a. St. Joseph is honored as the foster-father of the Son of 
God, spouse of the Blessed Virgin, and universal patron of the 
Church.

	b. The Apostles Peter and Paul as co-founders of the Church.

	c. St. Francis of Assisi as the closest follower of Christ.

	d. St. Anthony of Padua as the Wonder-worker.

	e. Each religious order or group has its favorite devotion to 
its favorite saint.

	f. Devotion to one's patron saint or the patron of one's 
church.

	g. Devotion to the Guardian Angels.

	h. Remembrance of the Poor Souls.

4. These devotional practices take the form of wearing emblems, 
attending novenas, saying special prayers, keeping certain feasts, 
joining associations, making pilgrimages, etc. Such practices feed 
and develop devotion, when they are approved and encouraged 
by Mother Church.

Yes, they bring the good and perfect gifts from above, from the 
Father of all. They open up the well of God's goodness, just as the 
novena of Father Baker opened up an actual gas well on his 
property.

Do not attempt to adopt all these practices. Choose one or the 
other and be faithful to it. It will nourish your piety. It will 
nourish your love of God, His mother and the saints. Amen.



EUCHARIST, CEREMONIES

"He had opened the doors of heaven, and had rained down Manna 
upon them to eat, and had given them the Bread of Heaven." Psalm 
77:24.

In the early eighteenth century there were only three families in 
the mission station of Inverness-Shire, Scotland. Persecution, the 
murder and outlawing of priests, constant war and discord had 
forced the once Catholic community to take to other parts. Those 
who remained were indifferent to religion.

A zealous priest, Father John MacDonald, tried to bring them back 
to the faith. His efforts seemed in vain. They would neither listen 
nor follow. He decided to go to another field.

The very day chosen for his departure he was called to a sick 
person in a mountain village. When he arrived at the house he 
was not a little angered to find the patient seemingly not sick at 
all, for she was sitting in a chair dressed in her finest clothes. 
The priest expressed his impatience for making such a tedious 
journey apparently with no purpose. His surprise, however, 
turned to admiration, when the patient explained:

"Is it anything but right that I who so often tried to please the 
world in dress should do my best in ornament and attire to honor 
and welcome my Savior, the living God, when He comes to visit 
me? Please hurry, Father, hear my confession and give me the 
sacraments. My last hour is near."

Still unconvinced, the priest gave her the last sacraments. A few 
minutes later she died. Father MacDonald took this incident as a 
sign from God that he was to remain there. God blessed his forty 
years of effort. The mission became one of the most flourishing 
in Scotland.

This story offers several inspiring lessons. The one I would like 
to emphasize is the spirit which prompted that dying woman to 
show honor and respect to our Lord when He was brought to her 
sick room. That same spirit of reverence is the reason behind all 
the ceremonies of the Eucharist. We want to give our Eucharistic 
Lord the best we have, the best we can afford. According to our 
means we purchase the best altar linens, vestments, monstrance, 
chalice and ciborium. We want to worship our Lord in the 
Eucharist in the most fitting way by surrounding every ceremony 
with the most beautiful, the most precious, the most becoming 
adornment possible. In another series, TALKS ON THE MASS, we 
will speak of the ceremonies and articles used at Mass. Today we 
would like to explain some of the other ceremonies which honor 
Christ in the Eucharist:

1. At Benediction, as the priest and servers enter the sanctuary, 
we should stand in reverence to God's minister. Kneel when the 
priest kneels. Look up to the Sacred Host when It is enthroned. 
Bow your head with the priest when the choir sings, "Down in 
adoration falling." When the priest makes the sign of the cross 
with the monstrance, make the sign of the cross over yourself--it 
is our Lord's own blessing. Some strike the breast out of humility 
and in adoration. But do look up at the Host for a moment. An 
indulgence of 7 years is granted for looking at the Sacred Host at 
Benediction and saying, "My Lord and my God." That is why It is 
held up to your gaze. Join in the singing and in repeating the 
divine praises.

2. At the Communion of the Mass, after you have made as worthy 
a preparation as possible, look up and receive the blessing of the 
priest. When he holds up the Sacred Host, look up, because he is 
saying:

"Behold the Lamb of God, behold Him who taketh away the sins of 
the world."

Pray with the priest the words:

"O Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldst enter into my heart, 
say but the word and my soul shall be healed."

When your turn comes to receive, raise your head, put out your 
tongue on your lower lip, as flat as possible. Don't reach for the 
Host. Remain steady and calm. The priest will place the Host on 
your tongue as he says:

"May the Body of our Lord Jesus Christ keep your soul unto life 
everlasting."

Don't be a snapper and pull your tongue back quickly. Slowness 
helps reverence. Follow the custom of your parish. And do keep 
your eyes closed while receiving. In some places the 
communicants genuflect before leaving the rail. The more 
common practice is to rise, walk down the steps, and return to 
your pew. Going and coming do keep your hands folded and eyes 
cast down.

In your pew cover your face with your hands, or close your eyes, 
bow your head, and with folded hands talk to our Lord and listen 
as He talks to you.

3. Holy Communion is brought to the home as a Communion of 
devotion or as Viaticum. When you call the priest to the dying, let 
the priest know whether the patient is able to receive Holy 
Communion or not. When the priest brings Communion, meet him 
at the door with a lighted candle and greet him with the words:

"Praised be Jesus Christ."

Near the sick person prepare a table with a clean, white cloth 
spread upon it, two lighted, blessed candles, holy water, and a 
glass filled almost to the brim with hydrant water, and a spoon 
and a towel. The priest purifies the fingers which have touched 
the Host in a spoonful of water and gives it to the patient. The 
patient should have a white cloth under his chin to catch the Host 
in case it falls. Members of the household should kneel nearby. 
You may place flowers or other suitable decorations upon the 
table. As much as possible avoid unnecessary talk with the priest 
as he enters or leaves, and with the sick person immediately after 
Communion. Often the priest is taking Communion to others and 
is carrying our Lord with him as he leaves.

Holy Communion is truly Bread from heaven. And when the priest 
brings Holy Communion to you, whether at the Communion rail 
or to your sick bed, the gates of heaven are truly opened and the 
Lord comes to you.

Surround that glorious coming with all the cleanliness of soul and 
body, all the reverence, all the thoughtfulness possible.

These little ceremonies are sacramentals. They help us to keep 
our thoughts upon the great Sacrament--our Lord Himself. Amen.



EXTREME UNCTION, CEREMONIES

"Is anyone among you sick? Let him bring in the presbyters of the 
Church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the 
name of the Lord." St. James, 5:14.

In his young life as a soldier he had many narrow escapes from 
dangerous accidents. Brushes with death he called them. His 
plane had been riddled with flak. He had thrown himself into a 
ditch to escape a rain of machine gun bullets. Another time a 
bullet had whistled through his helmet But his most terrifying 
experience happened in an army hospital.

He was lying in a coma after his plane had cracked up. He was 
paralyzed. He could not move his lips or his eyes or a single 
muscle. He heard the doctors tell the nurse:

"He's finished. There's nothing more to do."

He heard them pronounce him dead. Yet, he was not dead. 
Fortunately, someone had summoned the chaplain. The priest 
took a last chance. He pronounced conditional absolution and 
quickly administered the sacrament of Extreme Unction. There 
might be a spark of life in this man.

And there was. Hardly had the priest completed the rite when the 
apparently dead man twitched a muscle. He revived. He 
recovered. It was just another of the countless proofs of the life-
giving, strength-giving powers of the sacrament of the dying. Too 
numerous to question are the cases where a patient has been in a 
coma or unconscious only to revive upon the administration of 
Extreme Unction.

St. James, inspired by the Holy Spirit, has promised this:

"Is any one among you sick? Let him bring in the presbyters of 
the Church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in 
the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the sick 
man, and the Lord will raise him up, and if he be in sins, they 
shall be forgiven him." St. James, 5:14, 15.

The ceremonies connected with such a marvelous sacrament are 
interesting sacramentals. They help to put the patient and the 
people present in the proper disposition for the graces which the 
sacrament offers. These actions console, strengthen and uplift.

1. By the Last Sacraments we mean Confession, Communion and 
Extreme Unction. Should a Catholic suddenly take seriously ill, 
the priest is called. If possible, the patient makes a confession, 
receives Viaticum, and then the sacrament of the dying. On the 
table covered with a white linen cloth there should be a crucifix. 
holy water, two lighted candles, a glass of water, a spoon and a 
dish with a few snatches of bread, and a slice of lemon, and a 
dish of water and a towel. These are to cleanse the oil from the 
fingers of the priest. There should also be at least six small 
pieces of cotton on a dish.

2. As the priest enters the sick room, he prays:

"Peace be to this house....

"And to all who dwell therein."

He places the oil of the sick on the table. After confession and 
Viaticum he offers the sick person a crucifix to kiss, and 
sprinkles the patient and those in the room with holy water in the 
form of a cross.

3. After several beautiful prayers in which our Lord is begged to 
grant peace and health to the household and to defend everyone 
from evil, the priest proceeds to anoint the five senses.

4. He dips his thumb in the Oil of the Sick and traces the sign of 
the cross on the eyes, the ears, the nostrils, the closed lips, the 
open hands, and the feet. As he anoints each sense he says a 
prayer like this:

"Through this holy unction and of His most tender mercy, may 
the Lord pardon thee whatever sins thou hast committed by 
sight. Amen."

5. Immediately after each anointing the priest wipes off the oil, 
taking a fresh piece of cotton for each sense. It is proper for 
someone to hold the clean pieces of cotton on a plate and to 
receive on a plate the used pieces, so that later the cotton, 
together with the lemon, bread and water used in washing may be 
thrown into a fire. The priest will dispose of it, if you wish.

6. There follow several beautiful prayers, each one beseeching 
God to grant good health to this sick child of His.

7. In cases of emergency the priest may use a much shorter form 
for anointing. He simply anoints the forehead of the dying 
person. This is done when the circumstances prohibit the 
carrying out of the full rite.

8. Following this are a number of touching prayers for a dying 
person which the priest s