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J.-M. J.
: ‘ CIRCULAR: LETTER NO. 40
OF THE ne 3
Very Rey. SUPERIOR GENERAL
OF THE
Congregation of ‘the Holy Cross.
NOTRE. DAME _ IND., Decemner ‘20, 1886,
FEAsT OF THE EXPECTATION’ OF: ‘THE Birtucivine oF -TITE BiLEssEp’ VirGIN.
Rev. Farmers ano DeArty-BeLovep. CmLpREN IN Jesus Cireist:
This happy morning, it’ was my’ good fortune to celebrate Holy Mass ‘in’ our precious Chapel
of Loreto. What a treasure for ‘St. Mary’s!’ Three times in my life I enjoyed the unspeakable de-
light. to visit the: sacred osiginal Sanctuary wherein the Word was made Flesh, and dwelt amongst us.
* Even on: Holy Thursday, I was permitted to say Mass’in the most venerable temple in the world, as i
‘written on the entrance to this Sanctuary. To appreciate ake favor to the best of my ability, I had
made within its precincts a retreat of three days. I will never forget the joys of that fourth day in
doly. Week at Loreto. ut ‘this morning, while offering the Holy Sacrifice, and afterwards kneeling
in thanksgiving at the very place’where the Blessed Virgin herself knelt, as’ tradition has it, at the
solemn moment of the Incarnation of the Eternal Word—et Verbum caro factum est—all_my feelings of
old, in‘ the Santa Casa, seemed to revive in. my heart. Oh! how happy Faith makes us sometim
even in this valley of .tears! ‘What earthly enjoyments can compare with those of Divine "Faith?
All sources of human or worldly happiness, however great, would fade ey before a single ray of
ethe Eternal Light, or of the infallible promises ‘of what ‘awaits us in
: An honest friend, now: a millionaire, Writing me last’ week, said that “a ‘he had in his pocket
‘when he came to. South Bend, in.1846, was two dollars. I know another man who ‘had that much
less when he reached the same place, four years before. All our millionaires’ in South’ Bend started
alike, .with ‘nearly ‘nothing. . Has ‘their happiness increased at the same rate as their wealth?
ew.men have found gold mines to be mines of rea enjoyments,’ “Personal experience is a tenther
whose lessons ‘should be listened to.’ As a rule, it confirms the Divine “declaration: ‘Beati pauperes.
n our first arrival here, Notre Dame forcibly reminded us of Bethlehem he winter was the
severest and longest we have ever seen. We were in complete destitution. Even at Holy Mess
before taking the Precious Blood, I had ‘to clasp the Sacred Cup in my hands, in order to’ melt t
‘frozen Sacred Species. We suffered, but’ never felt happier in our life. What made us joyous and
ppy in our needs and privations of every sort? Faith alone. Before the end of the winter w
had erected a new church, 50x25 feet—a log church, of course, suitable to our means ‘and wants; we
called it a grand building, and felt proud of it. By Faith the lot of the poor is made as ‘rich as that
of the possessor of worldly goods, said a philosopher of the ‘present age. Yes, indeed, _and. far ‘richer
and better. Give the needy or the sufferer, the certainty of a heavenly future, of an’ eternal reward
for. patience, of an endless paradise; what a magnificent exchange for his momentary trials!’ Then
he realizes the rich, the celestial beauty of the ‘infallible aéelaration of pine Divine Master, whose
sublime teachings were begun in utter destitution, in‘ the grotto of ’Bethl
Excuse this long preamble; for it is nothing more than a preamble to ihe great subject I wish to
introduce to your serious consideration, at this most important epoch in our Religious existence. I
m aware of the fact that the close of the year is availed of by common friendship to express mutual
good wishes for special blessings upon a new year. I anticipate your filial expressions and fervent prayers
o
in my behalf, and in advance I thank you, each and all, for such gratifying evidences of devoted picty.
Once more, a thousand thanks for the same, with m wn best wishes for your greatest happiness!
y
To assert and prove to you that we have reached 4 a state of society, which none of us ever saw,
or ever imagined, would be like carrying a lamp in the full blaze of the noon-day sun. We all know
it and realize it. Rumors of war from the East; new- threats against our Holy Church and its Su-
preme Head; actual persecutions of all religious institutions; disturbances of peace in our midst, from