Irish Jesuit Province

Erin's PrayerAuthor(s): John HannonSource: The Irish Monthly, Vol. 36, No. 415 (Jan., 1908), p. 60Published by: Irish Jesuit ProvinceStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20501289 .

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SERMONS IN STONE

POPULARITY is like a man's shadow: it is close by him when he walks in the sunshine of prosperity; but when the clouds of adversity come over him, it quickly disappears.

No motherbird can detect danger for her brood more quickly or more surely than our souls can know the insidious voice of the tempter.

" I will be like unto God " was the proud cry that cast Lucifer into the abyss of hell. Yet it is likeness unto Christ that brings the Saints to the heights of heaven. Such a differ ence is there between pride and humility in the philosophy of life.

Have the daring of a great man if you have a great man's ambitions. The ribbon-seller needs only a few inches for his

measuring rule; but the yard-stick of the astronomer is IOO,ooo,ooo miles long.

Perseverance can pierce any barrier that stands in the way of a strong will, just as the sun's rays, when properly focussed, can go through a glass of ice-cold water and light a fire on the other side.

Bear up manfully when the tide of fortune is running low -even to the shoals of despair; and remember that it is often

with life as with the ocean-the highest tides follow those that are the lowest.

Planets have only borrowed light; yet, like men of super ficial knowledge, they shine in the early evening, before the great stars of night take their mighty places in the heavens.

Geologists may show us that the earth has lost the monster beasts of long ago; but no historian can tell us that the human heart has lost its tendency to bestial vices.

MICHAEL EARLS, S.J.

ERIN'S PRAYER*

OH, spare Thy children, Saviour sweet ! Yea, spare the people of my pain;

And bid them, after scourgings meet, In milder mercies breathe again.

J OHN HANNON.

* From the Church's prayer on the first Thursday in Lent: " Parce, Domine, parce populo tuo," etc.

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