Vol 15 Issue 10 ~ Editor: Rev. Fr. Courtney Edward Krier
March 5, 2022 ~ Lenten Feria
1. Sacrament of Penance
2. First Sunday of Lent
3. Saints Perpetua and Felicitas
4. Family and Marriage
5. Articles and notices
Dear Reader:
This week will be the Ember Days in Lent. One of the intentions for the fast is for laborers in the harvest, for priestly vocations. Saint Paul says:
How then shall they call on him, in whom they have not believed? Or how shall they believe him, of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear, without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they be sent, as it is written: How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel. (Rom. 10:14-15)
There is an absolute need, which the Council of Trent saw, to have priests properly trained through seminaries that provide a course of studies; and established seminaries should be supported so seminarians are properly educated and formed. The Catholic Encyclopedia presents it as follows:
A seminary is a school in which priests are trained. A priest is the representative of Christ among men: his mission is to carry on Christ’s work for the salvation of souls; in Christ’s name and by His power, he teaches men what they ought to believe and what they ought to do: he forgives sins, and offers in sacrifice the Body and Blood of Christ. He is another Christ (sacerdos alter Christus). His training, therefore, must be in harmony with this high office and consequently different in many ways from the preparation for secular professions. He must possess not only a liberal education, but also professional knowledge, and moreover, like an army or navy officer, he needs to acquire the manners and personal habits becoming his calling. To teach candidates for the priesthood what a priest ought to know and to make them what a priest ought to be is the purpose of seminary education; to this twofold end everything in the form of studies and discipline must be directed. (Art. Ecclesiastical Seminaries)
Many are going around in this time of confusion after having received questionable ordination and are doing a disservice to the Catholic Church because of their lack of formation. They take a cause and cater to the emotions and sensibilities of the faithful, but in the mean time destroy the unity of the faith and deprive the faithful of a true sacramental life. It is, as Saint Paul confronted the Corinthians:
But what I do, that I will do, that I may cut off the occasion from them that desire occasion, that wherein they glory, they may be found even as we. For such false apostles are deceitful workmen, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no wonder: for Satan himself transformeth himself into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers be transformed as the ministers of justice, whose end shall be according to their works. (1 Cor. 11: 12-15)
Therefore, on these Ember Days may we pray for those seminarians who will be ordained in the various orders of the clerical life, the seven steps to the priesthood, that they may be accounted as of the ministers of Christ, and the dispensers of the mysteries of God. (cf. 1 Cor. 4:1)
The Seminaries I personally support are Mater Dei Seminary in Omaha, Nebraska and Seminario Mayor de los Sagrados Corazones de Jesús y María in Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico. There are also the Minor Seminaries attached to them, teaching the young men who are preparing themselves for entering the Major Seminaries. Why do I support these? Because they are preparing our young men for the duties priests will perform in a world that has lost the faith by being able to answer the questions as to how the II Vatican Council changed Faith into faiths, Church into churches.
Pray for those who are going through this priestly formation that they may dedicate their lives to minister to you the grace of God and bring you to salvation.
As always, enjoy the readings provided for your benefit.—The Editor
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WHAT IS THE SACRAMENT OF PENANCE
The Catechism of the Council of Trent
(Part II, Chapter 5)
ON THE SACRAMENT OF PENANCE.
No person to be absolved, until he has promised faithfully to repair the injury done.
The confessor, however, will be scrupulously careful, before he absolves the penitent whose confession he has heard, to insist that if he has been really guilty of having injured his neighbour in property or character, he make reparation for the injury: no person is to be absolved until he has first faithfully promised to repair fully the injury done; and, as there are many who, the injury although free to make large promises to comply with their duty in this respect, are yet deliberately determined not to fulfil them, they should be obliged to make restitution, and the words of the Apostle are to be strongly and frequently pressed upon upon their minds: ” He that stole, let him now steal no more; but rather let him labour working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have something to give to him that suffereth need.” [Ephes. iv. 28.]
Penance how to be imposed.
But, in imposing penance, the confessor will do nothing arbitrarily; he will be guided solely by justice, prudence, and piety; and in order to follow this rule, and also to impress more deeply on the mind of the penitent the enormity of sin, he will find it expedient to remind him of the severe punishments inflicted by the ancient penitential canons, as they are called, for certain sins. The nature of the sin, therefore, will regulate the extent of the satisfaction: but no satisfaction can be more salutary than to require of the penitent to devote, for a certain number of days, a certain portion of time to prayer, not omitting to supplicate the divine mercy in behalf of all mankind, and particularly for those who have departed this life in the Lord. Penitents should, also, be exhorted to undertake of their own accord, the frequent performance of the penances usually imposed by the confessor, and so to order the tenor of their future lives that, having faithfully complied with every thing which the sacrament of Penance demands, they may never cease studiously to practise the virtue of penance. [Publiccrimes to be visited with public penance.] But, should it be deemed proper sometimes to visit public crimes with public penance, and should the penitent express great reluctance to submit to its performance, his importunity is not to be readily yielded to: he should be persuaded to embrace with cheerfulness that which is so salutary to himself and to others. These things, which regard the sacrament of Penance and its several parts, the pastor will teach in such a manner as to enable the faithful not only to understand them perfectly, but, also, with the Divine assistance, piously and religiously to reduce them to practice.
(To be continued)
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The Sunday Sermons of the Great Fathers
M. F. Toal
THE GOSPEL OF THE SUNDAY
MATTHEW iv. 1-11
At that time, Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert, to be tempted by the devil. And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterwards he was hungry. And the tempter coming said to him: If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. Who answered and said: It is written, not in bread alone doth man live, but in every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God. Then the devil took him up into the holy city, and set him upon the pinnacle of the temple, and said to him: if thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down, for it is written: That he hath given his angels charge over thee, and in their hands shall they bear thee up, lest perhaps thou dash thy foot against a stone. Jesus said to him: It is written again: Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. Again the devil took him up into a very high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them, and said to him: All these will I give thee, if falling down thou wilt adore me. Then Jesus saith to him: Begone Satan: For it is written: The Lord thy God shalt thou adore, and him only shalt thou serve. Then the devil left him; and behold angels came and ministered to him.
ST JOHN CHRYSOSTOM, BISHOP AND DOCTOR
Exposition of the Gospel
Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert, to be tempted by the devil.
Then! When? After the Descent of the Holy Spirit. After the Voice speaking from above had said: This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased (Mt. iii. 17). And since he did everything in order to teach us, and suffered everything for the same reason, so here also He willed to be led by the Spirit into the desert, to meet the devil in combat, and so that no one should be shocked if, after receiving baptism, he suffers even severer temptations: as though something strange had happened; but that he may learn to stand firm and endure with fortitude what happens according to the ordinary rule of our life.
This is the reason you received arms; not to stand at ease, but to fight. And God will not prevent temptations from rushing against you. And this first that you may learn how stronger you are now than before. Then that you learn prudence; so as not to be overbold because of the greatness of the gifts you have received: for temptation will steady you. Thirdly, so that the evil demon, who is uncertain whether you have renounced him or not, may not be left in doubt, through this test of temptation, that you have abandoned him, and wholly renounced him. Fourthly, that you may become stronger, and more tempered than steel. And fifthly, that you may receive a kind of indication of how precious is the treasure you have been given. For the devil would not have attacked you had he not seen you now held in honour. It was because of this he attacked Adam, because he saw he was given great dignity. For this reason he attacked Job, because he saw him raised up and honoured by the God of all. It was because of this He Himself says: Pray that ye enter not into temptation (Mt. xxvi. 41).
For this reason the Evangelist speaks of Jesus as, not going, but as being led; and this was according to the design of our salvation: implying that we are not as it were to leap into temptation, but, if we are led there, to stand firm against it. And consider where it was the Spirit led Jesus. Not into a city, nor into the market place, but into the desert. For since He wished to attract the evil spirit, He gives him occasion, not alone from his hunger, but also from the place. For then especially will the devil attack us, when he sees us alone and separated from each other. It was in this way he attempted the woman in the beginning: approaching as she was alone, and her husband absent. For when he sees us in the company of others, and united, he does not dare attack us. For this special reason should we come frequently together: so that it shall be more difficult for the devil to attack us.
The devil therefore finds Him in the desert, in a pathless wilderness. For that it was a wilderness Mark conveys to us by the words: And he was with beasts. Consider with what craft and purpose of mind he draws near; and the opportunity he is seeking. He draws near to a Person who is not now fasting, but enduring hunger. He fasts that you may learn how efficacious fasting is, and what a weapon it is against the devil; and that after our baptism we should give ourselves, not to pleasures, not to drunkenness, not to the delights of the table, but to fasting. For this reason He fasted; not because He had need to fast, but to teach us. For before we were purified through baptism the pleasures of the stomach led us to sin. It is as if a physician, who has restored a sick man to health should command him to avoid what had brought on his sickness. So likewise did He introduce fasting after baptism.
For it was the intemperance of the stomach that drove Adam from Paradise, and provoked the Flood in the days of Noah, and sent thunderbolts against Sodom. And though they also committed fornication, yet the root of either chastisement was here; as Ezechias also tells us where he says: Behold this was the iniquity of Sodom thy sister, fulness of bread, and abundance, and they were lifted up, and committed abominations (Ezech. xvi. 49). And the Jews also; it was when they were filled with the delights of food that they then fell into and committed their greatest sins.
2. So He fasts for forty days, pointing out to us the remedy for our salvation. Nor does He exceed this length of time, lest the strangeness of the wonder discredit the truth of His plan for our salvation. This was not to be feared here, since both Moses and Elias, strengthened by the power of God, were also enabled to endure fasting for this great length of time. Had He gone beyond this time His taking flesh might then appear unbelievable to many.
When He had therefore fasted for forty days and for forty nights, and afterwards was hungry, He gave an opportunity to the devil to draw near, so that He might teach us through this encounter how we are to overcome and defeat him. This a wrestler also does. For in order to teach his pupils how to win he himself engages in contests with others, demonstrating on the actual bodies of others that they may learn how to gain the mastery. This is what took place here. For, desiring to draw the devil into contest, He made His hunger known to him. He met him as he approached, and meeting him, with the skill which He alone possessed, He once, twice, and a third time, threw His enemy to the ground.
But lest we should in passing too quickly over these victories take away your rightful profit in them, let us begin at the first encounter. Since he was hungry it was written: The tempter coming said to him: if thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. For since he had heard a Voice from heaven saying: This is my beloved Son, and had also heard John testifying such great things about Him, and then saw Him hungry, he was puzzled. For he could not believe that this was just a mere man, because of all that had been said about Him. But neither could he believe that He was the Son of God, since he sees that he suffers hunger. So being doubtful in mind he speaks with two voices as it were. Just as when he drew near to Adam in the beginning he pretended to things that were not true, that he might find out what was true, so here also, since he did not know clearly the deeply veiled mystery of the design of our Redemption, nor who this Person was Who stood before him, he began to weave other nets, by means of which he might learn what was now hidden and obscure to him.
And what does he say? If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. He does not say: Since you are hungry, but, If thou be the Son of God: thinking to flatter Him. And so he makes no reference to His hunger; lest he might seem to bring it against Him, to mock Him with it. For not knowing the immensity of the divine plan he thought that this might be a reproach to Him. So in the manner of a flatterer he makes mention only of His dignity.
What did Christ say? Putting down his pride, He shows him that there was nothing humiliating in what He suffered, and nothing unworthy of His wisdom; which the devil, flattering Him, had passed over in silence. And this He now brings forward, and puts before him, saying: Not in bread alone doth man live.
So the devil begins with the stomach’s need. Note carefully with me the astuteness of this malign spirit, and from what point he begins his attack, and how he leaves out nothing of his craft. He begins where he had overthrown the First Man, immersing him in unending afflictions. From here he again weaves his snares. I am speaking of the incontinence of the stomach. One hears from many foolish men of the countless miseries brought about by hunger. But Christ shows us that a man of virtue cannot be compelled by the tyranny of this appetite to do what it is not fitting to do, but will rather endure hunger and not obey its command; teaching us that in nothing should we obey the devil.
And since the First Man had violated the law in this way, committing also an offence against God, He here teaches us very carefully that even though that which the devil tells us to do may not be a transgression, yet even then we should never obey him. And why do I say transgression? For should the demons counsel what is useful, even so, He tells us, we must not heed them. For this reason He forbade those demons to speak who were proclaiming Him, as the Holy One of God (Lk. iv. 35). Paul rebuked them in the same way, though what they cried out was profitable to salvation (Acts xvi. 18). He rebuked them all the more, thwarting their designs against us: though speaking salutary truths: and closing their mouths and imposing silence on them he drove them away. So neither did Christ agree here to what he said. And what does He say? Not in bread alone doth man live. What He means here is that God is able, even by a word, to feed the hungry; and for this He quotes the testimony of the Old Testament. In this way He teaches us that though we may hunger, though we may suffer, we must never depart from God.
3. But some of you may say: he ought to have known Who the Lord was. To this I answer: why, and for what reason? For the devil did not say this as though he might himself come to believe, but, as he seemed to think, that he might lead the Lord into unbelief So had he deceived the First Man, and confused him, so that he did not firmly trust in God. For he promised them what was contrary to what God had said to them, filling them with empty hopes, leading them on to infidelity, and so cheated them out of the happiness they possessed. But Christ shows him that neither to the devil, nor to the Jews who afterwards were of the same mind as the devil, would He give a sign: instructing us also that at all times, and even though we were able to work a sign, we should never do it without a purpose, without a sufficient reason; and never at any time, even though subjected to violence, should we obey the devil.
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MARCH 6
Sts. Perpetua and Felicity, Martyrs
l. Perpetua, of noble parentage, and Felicity, a slave girl, were condemned to death at Carthage, on March 7, in the year 202 or 203. These women had received baptism just before being led forth to death. Felicity had given birth to a daughter in prison. The graves of these Martyrs, as well as the ruins of the basilica built to honor them, have recently been discovered.
2. “Sinners went about to destroy me; Lord, I waited on thy will” (Introit). When Perpetua and Felicity were in prison, the former’s father visited her in order to induce her to deny her Faith. She put this question to him: “May a thing be called by a name that means something else?” When he answered negatively, she continued: “Then, neither may I call myself anything but what I am – a Christian.” Thereupon, her father struck her and left, not to return for several days. “In this interval,” Perpetua says, “we received baptism. The spirit inspired me to ask for nothing from the sacrament except strength for my body.” When her father visited her again, he threw himself, weeping, at her feet; she tried to console him by saying: “In the courtroom, the verdict will, without doubt, be according to God’s will.” She was taken before the judge, who commanded, “Make sacrifice for the welfare of the emperors.” “I will not do so.” “Are you a Christian?” “Yes, I am a Christian.” Then, Perpetua and her companion were condemned to be thrown to the wild beasts: “And we went joyfully back to prison.”
From the prison they later strode to the amphitheater with serene and happy faces, as if they were on their way to heaven. Perpetua walked into the arena slowly, like a bride of Christ, like one in whom God was well pleased. When she fearlessly looked at the spectators, all eyes were lowered. Likewise, Felicity gave evidence of joy and courage in her sacrifice. Having been scourged, they were exposed to the attacks of a wild cow and were gravely wounded. The execution was completed by stabbing. The author of the “Acts of Sts. Perpetua and Felicity,” from which the above details were taken, exclaims: “O heroic, O holy Martyrs! You were truly called, truly chosen for the glory of our Lord, Jesus Christ.” “Sinners went about to destroy me; Lord, I waited on thy will. Look where I may, all good things must end, only thy law is wide beyond measure” (Introit).
The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field . . . like a trader . . . looking for rare pearls” (cf. Gospel). Perpetua and Felicity discovered a treasure, a rare pearl, in their faith in Christ and in His Word. This faith made the one strong enough to withstand firmly all the pleadings and threats of her father, when he tried to persuade her to give up Christ; it made the other strong enough to choose the love of Christ at the cost of her motherly love for her infant. “Vexed by the causeless malice of princes, my heart still dreads thy warning: victors rejoice not more over rich spoils than I in thy promise” (Communion). This is virile, living Christianity. May we, like these saints, rightly evaluate this treasure, this precious pearl, in order to gain Christ by our Christian faith! How deplorable is the weakness of many Catholics!
3. “There is Another in me who suffers for me because I also suffer for Him,” That was Felicity’s answer when a pagan taunted her: “How will you bear the pains of martyrdom, who now utter groans while giving birth to your child?” “Now it is I who suffer these pangs; in the arena, Another suffers in me.” She was conscious of her oneness with Christ, for it is Christ who suffers in the Christian, and He gives the strength for suffering. He, our head, continues His Passion in us, His members. He comes into our hearts every day during the celebration of Holy Mass in order to instill into us, through the Bread we eat, His own sacrificial spirit. “If thou didst but understand the Gift that God gives thee!” (cf. John 4:10.)
Perpetua and Felicity, like the apostles, accepted their sentence joyfully, “rejoicing that they had been found worthy to suffer indignity for the sake of Jesus’ name” (Acts 5:41). This is true greatness!
Collect: Grant us, we pray Thee, Lord our God, never to fail in reverence for the triumphs of Thy holy martyrs Perpetua and Felicity, and let not our unworthiness prevent us from offering them a tribute of humble respect. Amen.
(Benedict Baur)
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CANA IS FOREVER
COUNSELS FOR BEFORE AND AFTER MARRIAGE
By Charles Hugo Doyle (1949)
Chapter Three: REMOTE PREPARATION FOR MARRIAGE
The delaying of the development of self-reliance likewise can be destructive of essential character formation. While it is true that the human child has the longest term of infancy of any living creature, nevertheless it must gradually be taught to acquire independence if it is to develop normally. Much damage is done to the child in its early formative years by the faith parents have in their protective powers over their offspring and the tendency from force of habit to think of them as much more immature than they are. This robs the child of the opportunity to take care of itself and of the enjoyment of assuming responsibilities.
Catherine Cox Miles, Yale psychologist, states: “There is nothing more important we can do for children than give them all the responsibility their shoulders can bear. As a result, in manhood and womanhood, whether they are building a building, running a farm or business, becoming president of a club, leading a community drive, editing a magazine, inventing an engine, writing a book, or managing their marriage, home, and children, they will be able to handle the responsibilities of these jobs from the sheer momentum of habit.”
The things you learned, how you felt about them and reacted to them. Educational experiences are among the strongest environmental influences affecting one’s life. What you are or will be depends in no small way on how you were trained and what you were taught. Samuel Johnson once wrote: “Every man is a worse man in proportion as he is unfit for the married state,” and no person is fit to marry who lacks a good sound intellectual, social, moral, and religious training.
Pope Pius XI, in his famous Encyclical letter, “On Christian Marriage,” stresses the importance of a long-range moral preparation for matrimony in the following words:
“For it cannot be denied that the basis of a happy wedlock, and the ruin of an unhappy one, is prepared and set in the souls of boys and girls during the period of childhood and adolescence. There is danger that those who before marriage sought in all things what is theirs, will be in the married state what they were before, that they will reap what they have sown; indeed, within the homes there will be sadness, lamentation, mutual contempt, strife’s, estrangements, weariness of common life, and worst of all, such parties will find themselves left alone with their own unconquered passions.”
From the Pontiff’s words it is obvious that one who has acquired and practiced the Seven Great Virtues of Faith, Hope, Charity, Temperance, Prudence, Fortitude, and Justice, and the Ten Little Natural Moral Virtues of Tact, Order, Courtesy, Punctuality, Sincerity, Unbiased Judgment, the Good Use of Time, Cheerfulness, Loyalty, and Caution in Speech, will certainly make a success of the matrimonial career. On the other hand, what marriage could be happy where one or both of the mates bring to their union souls steeped in habits resulting from frequent commissions of the Seven Deadly or Capital Sins—namely, Pride, Covetousness, Lust, Anger, Gluttony, Envy, and Sloth? The scale of marital happiness tips toward that in which one’s soul inclines.
Need we stress the well-known fact that a person will be after marriage what he was before it? For instance, a young man who was inordinately proud as a child and teen-ager will most certainly be an arrogant and domineering husband, for pride is not founded on the sense of happiness but on the sense of power. “Unwarranted pride,” as Johnson puts it, “is seldom delicate. It will please itself with very mean advantages.” What is true of sinful pride is true of all the other Capital Sins. What chance for happiness has a girl who marries a drunkard or one whose temper is uncontrollable? Pope Pius XI, as noted before, warns against marrying one whose weakness is lust, for he said: “There is danger that those who before marriage indulged their impure desires, will be in marriage what they were before and they will reap what they have sown . . . worst of all such parties will find themselves left alone with their own unconquered passions.”
A survey made several years ago of the real causes of unhappiness, separations, and civil divorces is most revealing. I say real causes, because in most cases the excuses given in the courts are not the real causes at all but the required legal grounds for civil suits. Here follows the list of the true causes of unhappiness or failure in marriage:
On the part of the wife:
Extravagance
Dirty—untidy home
Unattractive person
Accepting attention of other men or outright infidelity
Resentment of father’s discipline of children
Too much time spent with mother
Accepting advice of neighbors
Nagging or disparaging the husband
Indifference to the husband
Not being tactful or feminine
Drunkenness
On the part of the husband:
Stinginess
Interference in household management
Gloominess
Lack of consideration
Lack of love-making and kindness
Living with relations
Drunkenness
Vulgarity or slovenly habits
Infidelity
Laziness
It would be interesting and worthwhile to write in alongside each of these items the deadly sins that caused it or the different virtues it violates. For instance, laziness is the result of the sin of sloth; and drunkenness the sin of gluttony and the lack of the virtue of temperance. Such an exercise will make the poet’s lines more understandable.
We make the world we live in: and we weave
About us webs of good or ill, which leave
Their impress on our souls.
Strength or weakness of will, its training or the lack of it, may spell the difference between being a good marriage risk or a bad one. Pope Pius XI, in his great Encyclical letter “On Education,” wisely stated that:
“The inclinations of the will, if they are bad, must be repressed from childhood, but such as are good must be fostered, and the mind, particularly of children, should be imbued with doctrines which begin with God, while the heart should be strengthened with the aids of Divine grace, in the absence of which none can curb their evil desires, nor can their discipline and formation be brought to complete perfection by the Church, which Christ has to provide with heavenly doctrines and Divine Sacraments, as to make her an effectual teacher of men.”
There is no gainsaying the fact that there is a vast difference between what you could have learned and what you did learn, and a vast difference between how you were trained and how you could have been trained—between what you are today and what you could or can be. While it is true that you are the product of your environment, nevertheless if your parents were remiss, you don’t have to remain a sensitive, anti-social, immoral, frightened, irreligious, or nervous person. As the Chinese say, “You can’t stop the birds from flying overhead but you can prevent them from building their nests in your hair.” You can force yourself to change. You can learn new things and form new and better habits. There is no limit to what determination, love, and the grace of God can do.
The kind of marriage you make depends on the kind of person you are and the kind of person your mate is. The success or failure of your marriage will depend in a large measure on what each one of you brings to that union. What each of you brings to marriage likewise depends on the kind of remote preparation each has made for wedlock. Regarding this foundation,
“Build it well, whate’er you do;
Build it straight and strong and true;
Build it clean and high and broad;
Build it for the eye of God.”
When Our Lord went to Cana for the marriage feast, it is assumed that He arrived in time for the great procession which formed such a colorful and important part of the ceremony. According to custom, the marriage procession always began late on Tuesday night and was made up of a troop of singers, their voices mingling with the notes of the flute and the clash of tambourines, with, last of all, the bridegroom, gloriously clad, his forehead wreathed with a golden turban entwined with myrtle and roses. About him marched his ten friends called “sons of the groom,” holding palm branches in their hands while the kinsmen acting as his escort bore lighted torches. Arriving at the home of the bride, the bridegroom and his companions entered within and, taking her by the hand, escorted her to the threshold, there to receive the tablet of stone on which was inscribed the dowry. This done, the whole party left for the home of the bridegroom.
At Cana, as in every ancient Jewish marriage, the receiving of the tablets of stone on which were inscribed the dowry formed an important part of the wedding. The dowry still forms an important part of every wedding—for Cana is forever. Today both the bride and groom bring a dowry to their marriage—a dowry made up of two individual personalities, each with its own particular history and background. Each dowry is made up of the sum total of good or bad environmental influences, good or bad habits, good or bad ideals, good or bad fundamental moral principles, good or bad religious background, or, in a word, the good or bad remote preparation for marriage.
By trifles in our common ways,
Our characters are slowly piled,
We lose not all our yesterdays;
The man has something of the child.
Part of the past to all the present cleaves,
As the rose-odors linger in the fading leaves.
In ceaseless toil, from year to year,
Working with loath or willing hands,
Stone upon stone we shape, we rear,
Till the completed fabric stands,
And when the hush hath all labor stilled,
The searching fire will try what we have striven to build . . . .
The Building of Character, J. R. Miller, D.D.
(To be continued.)
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Father Krier will be in Albuquerque, New Mexico, March 8. He will be in Pahrump, Nevada, March 10 and Eureka, Nevada, on March 17.
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