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to elevate them to that rank in society to which their long sufferings entitles them. Our predecessors have carned laurels for themselves for the stand which they have made by the people, and we hope to hand down to our successors that faith of which we have been the depositories, pure and unalloyed as gold which has passed through the ordeal of fire. Place confidence in us; to have a hold on your affections is the object dearest to us, and we should be ungrateful indeed if we ever betrayed you. (Cheers.)

ANCIENT WISDOM.-The greatest vice is ingratitude.-Socrates. You should run to prevent an injury, as you would to extinguish a fire.-Heraclitus.

Every man should make the cause of the injured his own.-- Solon.

LAITY'S DIRECTORY FOR THE ENSUING WEEK. December 7.-SUNDAY, Second of Advent, Mass as in the Missal.Purple.

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December 8.-MONDAY. Mass of the Conception of the B. V. M. with an Oct. com. of feria. Creed. Pref. of B. V. M.-White.

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December 9.-TUESDAY. Mass of St. Ambrose, B. and D. (from the 7th) com. of the Oct. and feria.-White.

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In the 1). of Cloyne, Mass of St. Andrew, apostle, (from the 30th ult.)— Red.

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In the archdiocese of Dublin, Mass of St. Saviour's Church, (from the 9th ult.com. of Oct and feria-White.

December 10.-WEDNESDAY. Mass of the Oct. of the Concept. com. of feria and St. Melchiades, P. and M.—White.

In the archdiocese of Dublin, Mass of St. Ambrose (from the 7th), com. of Oct. feria and St. Melchiades. White.

In the D. of Cloyne, Dedication of St. Saviour's Church, (from the 5th ult.) com. as above.White.

In the D. of Galway, Mass of the Oct. of St. Nicholas, com. as above.— White.

December 11.-THURSDAY. Mass of St. Damasus, P. and C. com. of Oct. and feria.White.

In the D. of Limerick, 4th orat. for the Right Rev. John Ryan.

December 12.-FRIDAY. (Fast and abstinence from eggs.) Mass of the Oct. com. of the feria, 3d orat. of the Holy Ghost.-White.

In the D. of Cloyne, Mass of St. Ambrose, B. and C. (from the 7th) com. of the Oct. and feria.- White:

In the D. of Galway, Mass of the Oct. of St. Nicholas.White.

December 13. SATURDAY. Mass of St. Lucy, V. and M. com. of Oct. and feria.-Red.'

In the D. of Galway, Mass of the Oct. Day of St. Nicholas, com, of the Oct. of the Conception and feria.- White.

DUBLIN --Stereotyped, Printed and Published, by T. & J. COLDWELL, 50, Capel-erreri.
Sold also by the Catholic Book Society, 5, Essex-bridge; R. Coyne, 4. Capel-street;
R. Grace & Son, 45, Capel-street; J. Coyne, 24, Cook-street; D'OBrien, 2, Abbey st.
WHOLESALE AGENTS in London, Keating and Brown Liverpool, John Pughe, 6,
Marcbone; Manchester, Samuel Birchenough, 127, Butter-street, and R.
Back King-street; Glasgow, D, Kennedy, &c. &c.

Lynch,

THE

No. 44.

PUBLISHED WEEKLY,

UNDER THE INSPECTION OF CATHOLIC DIVINES.

DUBLIN, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 13, 1834. VOL 1.

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THE CATHOLIC CHURCH AT SUTTONCOLDFIELD.. THE new Catholic Church, at Suttoncoldfield, in England, was opened on the 21st October, 1834, and solemnly dedicated to the Most Holy and Undivided Trinity.

Solemn High Mass was sang on the occasion by the Rev. Mr. Pope, and the Rev. Dr. Weedall preached an eloquent and argumentative sermon on the mystery of the Holy Trinity.

MEDITATIONS..

[TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH. BY A CATHOLIC PRIEST.]

DECEMBER 14.-On Human Friendship.

I. It is in general false.

We meet with many in the world who are friends in name, appearance, and professions; friends in interest, intrigue, politics, pleasures, and amusements; but it is rare to meet with a sincere and true friend. At the first trial or reverse we meet with in life, all these kinds of friends will forsake us; at the first disgrace that befals us they will abandon us, and treat us as if they had never known us. They change with fortune, and regulate their friendship by her caprices Happy the Christian who knows how to profit by the instability of human friendship, to unite himself to God.

II. Friendships that appear the most sincere are often the most fragile.

A friendship may have lasted for years, and yet be broken in a moment; we may endeavour in vain to renew it. One moment has been sufficient to destroy it; and years are insufficient to reestablish it. All depends on the caprice of men: all that is subject to the empire of their passions receives the impression of their inconstancy. Christian charity has sentiments far more solid and durable, founded on religion that is always the same, and which has for its principle and object, God, who never changes.

DECEMBER 15.-On Communion.

I. Meditate seriously on these three reflections of St. Bernard as a preparation for it.

First: What is it you are going to receive? It is the adorable flesh of the Son of the Most High, equal in all things to his Father, who gives himself to you in the plenitude of his divinity. What greatness! what majesty! Si attendas qui venit, quanta majestas! Second, To whom does God give himself in communion? To the vilest of creatures, created out of nothing, and fallen into an abyss of sin. What an honour conferred on the sinner! What an abasement for God! Si attendas ad quos venit quanta dig. natio! What is it engages him to give himself to us in holy communion? A desire to save us and support us in a life of grace with this divine food. What excess of mercy and love! Si propter quod venit, vide quanta sit latitudo charitas!

II. Fruit of these reflections.

The first reflection will inspire you with an ardent desire of preparing your heart as a dwelling worthy of God, and consequently to purify it from all the stains of sin. The second will inspire you with profound humility. The third will fill you with sincere love,

and a lively gratitude to God, for being the author and protector of your salvation. These are necessary dispositions for a worthy communion.

DECEMBER 16.-On Ingratitude towards God.

I. Nothing is more just than gratitude to God."

What have we that we have not received from his bountiful hand? Who is it that gives us all the comforts of life we possess, and the health and strength we enjoy? Who is it that has preserved us from a thousand hidden dangers with which God alone could know we were menaced, and from which he has preserved us, and as a proof of his generous love concealed from our knowledge?

II. Nothing is more rare than gratitude to God.

Who is it that thinks of his benefits? Who is it that returns him thanks for them? We would be ashamed of being ungrateful to men; we would blush at being called unthankful; and to whom do we owe so much thanks and gratitude as to God? For are not the favours we receive from men the pure effects of his bounty? Yet we turn his benefits against himself, and make use of them to offend him. ba

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December 17.—On Submission of the Mind to the Truths of Faith. I. This submission is always necessary.

"

Reason is the light of man, and faith is the light of the Christian. God commands that we honour him by the homage of our heart and mind. We render him the first by faith, and the second by love. Faith clevates and consecrates our mind in unison with the wisdom of God.

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11. This submission should appear in our conduct.

Philosophy encourages the vain speculations of human reason; but the "just live by faith." They judge of everything by the principles of faith, and they act always by its direction. What does faith teach us concerning the pleasures, riches, and greatness of the world? What idea does it give us of the passing vanities of this life, of the unhappiness of those who wander in the broad and spacious way that conducts to hell? It is on these principles and not on the opinions of the world, that a true Christian regulates his conduct and sentiments.

DECEMBER 18-On Sorrow.

I. "Abandon not your soul to sorrow," said the wise man, "and be not afflicted in your thoughts.".

There are moments of our life when our hearts are as if drowned in the bitterness of sorrow. To remedy this evil examine the cause of it. Does your sorrow arise from your being a slave to one or many passions, which you cannot gratify, from the impatience or multiplicity of your desires, from some vexatious event that troubles

the serenity of your days? If you loved nothing in preference to God, nothing would be capable of afflicting you. We are only afflicted with the privation of loss of whatever is most dear to us, and those who love God can never lose him; he never forsakes them, nor removes himself from them.

II. The second means to banish sorrow is to have recourse to God.

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"If any one is in sorrow let him pray," said St. James. soul," said the prophet," rejected all consolation; I have thought of God and rejoiced," "It is not," says St. Augustine, "in the dissipation of exterior objects, and in the vain amusements of the world that we must seek a remedy for sorrow; it is in the recollection of the interior man, it is within ourselves, in this retreat of

the heart we must meditate and pray.",

DECEMBER 19-On Two Kinds of Sorrow.

There is," says St. Basil, "a sorrow that comes from the spirit of God, and a sorrow that arises from the spirit of the world." The first, which all true Christians are sensible of, proceeds from a recollection of their sins. The second, the consideration of the great number of crimes and abominations committed every day in the world. The third, a desire of their celestial country. "Seated on the shores of Babylon," said the Israelites, we weep at the

remembrance of Sion."

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11. The sorrow that arises from the spirit of the world is impa

tient and vexatious.

It throws us into despair; it leaves us without help or resource; it regrets the loss of the goods of this life, without a hope of being recompensed for them in the next. It renders us incapable of receiving those sweet consolations from God which comfort a faithful soul. Ma

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DECEMBER 20.-On the Union of the Soul with God.

I. God is in our soul, and proves to the just the sweetness of his presence.

First, by the grace of union that is sanctifying and habitual grace, which unites them to him, and makes them pleasing in his sight. Secondly, by the grace of direction; that celestial light, that enlightens their mind, and regulates the motions of their heart. Thirdly, by the grace of protection. "The Lord is in me," said the prophet: "he is my light, my life, my strength and my salvation-what have I to fear?" Fourthly, by the grace of consolation; this divine unction that softens the bitterness of their tears, and makes them happy even in their afflictions.

II. Nothing is more necessary or more precious than this union of our soul with God.

It is the pledge of our salvation; all is lost when we lose itall is gained if we possess it; we cannot lose it but by sin; that

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