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THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC LAYMEN'S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA 5 CLERICAL LIFE—SOME OF ITS SERIOUS AND HUMOROUS SIDES By P. H. D. (Continued from last month). Now, he said, may I ask you any question about the things that I can t understand? I assured him that I was ready and very willing to answer any questions and to solve all his doubts regarding the practice of the Church regarding ceremonies. At once he unmasked a very battery of questions: “Do you Catholics have the Church open all day? Why? Why do you kneel when you enter the church? Why do you have those statues there over the Altars? Why did you wear those strange garments yesterday while you were saying Mass? Why don’t you speak English when you are saying Mass? Why do you have these pictures on the wall; don’t they distract the attention of the people? Why do I see so many crosses all over the Church? “Suppose we go over to the house,” I replied, “and sit down on the porch, and I will try to answer your difficulties.’* We went over to the house and sitting on the porch, I commenced: The Church is God’s house; and we believe that He is our best friend, and so we do not like to see the house of our friend closed when we come to see Him; the closed door would be to us a sign that He is not at home, or that He does not wish to see us. We can understand why your Churches are closed; it is because there is no presence of God there. But ours are open all the day long, becav.se we believe that He is there and is waiting for us, and is anxious to see us; and we see an assurance of this desire on H** part in the open door. We kneel as we enter the Church because He is there VFho is our Redeemer, and we pay Him the tribute of adoring love on bended knee as soon as we set foot in His house. “Do you remember reading in the Bible the story of the visit of the wise men to the Infant Saviour, and where and how they found Him? The Bible tells that they found the Child with Mary, His Mother, and so when we come into the Church and see the statue there over that Altar we are reminded of the old story, for there we see the figures of the Divine Child and His Blessed Mother. You have a picture of your dead mother or father and you prize it; why should not I have and prize the figure or picture of Jesus and His Mother? Our cities are filled with statues erected to the memory of our great men. ^XTy should we not erect the statues of God s great soldiers who fought the good fight of faith and died for Him? The heroes whom we comemorate died for our freedom; the Saints, whose statues are in our Churches, died that we might have the truth which alone can make us free. AX^hy should we not honor their memory by erect ing such memorials as recall their glorious deeds and testify to our gratitude? The Meaning of Vestments You have already asked me about the vestments I wore at the Mass yesterday; and I have told you that they were worn out of respect to our Lord, but there are other reasons as well. One of my earliest recol lections is the fourth of July celebrations we had in my native city every year. At dawn there was an ar tillery salute and at noon in Mechanics’ Hall a large crowd assembled to listen to the reading of the Declar ation of Independence and an Oration; then we went to Popular Lawn, where there was a parade of the mil itary and a barbecue. The most attractive feature of the parade was a company of soldiers in the costumes of the Continentals of the American Revolution. I am quite sure that the sight of this costume recalled to the minds of all who were there the sufferings and trials of the men, who, from Bunker Hill to Yorktown, fought an unequal fight that we might enjoy the free dom of governing ourselves. “The red vestments which I wore yesterday told a greater story of the deathless devotion of two men one a poor Galilean fisherman and the other a tent maker of Tarsus, who eighteen hundred years ago died for Christ’s name and sake, and who laid firm and well the foundation of a Church which has sent the blessed tidings of Christ’s faith to the uttermost ends of the world; for the faith that I preach to my people is the faith of Peter and Paul. It is the faith which brings true freedom; and I and all men who call themselves Christians are debtors to these men. They gave the supreme test of love when they willingly laid down their lives for Him, and the red vestments yes terday recalled the martyrs’ death. Our Churches are not lecture halls where we come to listen to some elo quent speaker, but they are temples where we come to worship God, give Him thanks for His mercies, beg a continuance of His favors, ask pardon for our sins, and reverently listen to His Holy Word. Besides, the vestments tell me of the olden days. For though we have placed ornaments on the vestments yet they re main substantially of the same shape as those worn in Apostolic days; and so as Catholics see the Priest in his vestments go up the Altar steps, their memory is busy with the days of persecution and they think of the Mass in the Catacombs where an Apostle stood at the Altar. The Latin Mass—and Why. “We say Mass in Latin. But the people have in their Prayer Books an English translation; and does it not seem appropriate that an unchanging Church should express faith and love in an unchangeable tongue? In every land the self same Sacrifice is offered, and everywhere in the same tongue; so that a Priest, no matter where he may be, can say Mass. From Rome, the home of the Latin speech, comes to us our Faith; for to Peter and his successors were given by the Lord the charge of all the Flock of Christ, and in the speech of old Rome do the successors of Peter speak to all his children. The pictures on the walls not only do not distract the minds and the attention of the people, but, as they gaze at these pictures, they see the story of what Christ did for their redemption, when, laden with the heavy cross, He walked from Pilate’s house to the hill of Calvary; and assuredly no better or more comforting thoughts can come to them than those which the pic tures on the walls of our Churches suggest. How strange to us is the surprise of our Protestant friends at the prominence given to the cross in our Churches. The greatest preacher of Christ’s religion testifies that he was sent to preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles. "God forbid,’ says he, ‘that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ ; I came to you not in loftiness of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the tes timony of Christ; for I judged not myself to know any thing among you, but Jesus Christ and Him crucified.* Did not He, Who saved us, ‘humble Himself unto death, even the death of the cross’? Shall I be asham ed to see in the Church that emblem which tells me so eloquently of the price He paid for my redemption? Who are those who are so opposed to the sight of the cross? I hear the inspired words of the great Apostle of the Gentiles: ‘For many walk of whom 1 have told you often (and now tell you weeping), that they are enemies of the cross of Christ.’ Has not He said that he who does not take up his cross and follow Him is not worthy of Him? Is there any place where the cross is more appropriate than the Church? When a Catholic sees the crucifix in the Church on entering, his thoughts go back to Calvary and the first good Friday, and the One who died there for all sinners, and he recalls his ingratitude. And the thought of these things, at least so it seems to me, is the best pre paration for the Mass. When I had finished talking, Mr. W. sat looking be- (Continued on page 7.)