USA > California > Alameda County > Oakland > Silver jubilee memorial Convent of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, Oakland, Cal., 1868-1893 > Part 8
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FANNY WHITE, KATE WHITE. Convent of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, Oakland, Cal.
The lapse of years softens the sorrows and trials of other days. -May French.
The Isle of Dreams
In Fancy's em'rald shimmering sea, There floats a fairy golden isle, Whose banks of broider'd clover lea On merry laughing waters smile.
This isle of dreams is beauteous wrought With loveliness from poet's theme, Echoing soft, sweet Music's thought, Glowing with the artist's theme.
There Nature weaves her fairest charms ; Sweet flowers adorned with iris hue Do waft to zephyr fragrant balms, While shy they droop with kiss of dew.
Tall trees their leafy tassels swing 'Neath gentle touch of nightingale, Whose lute responsive wooings sing To pearly fountain's murmuring tale.
There, veiled in clouds of lace, the morn On azure curtained throne appears, While round her soft, with mystic tune, Doth steal the " Music of the Spheres."
Upon that isle Stern Death is kind, He brings us back our loved ones gone ; And hearts on earth that breaking pined Are there no longer sad, forlorn.
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For oh ! our cherished loved ones dear Are with us on that golden shore, And joy in rapture sheds soft tear To know we're with our loved once more.
There, cold earth fades and all is bliss ; There, Mortal's spirit Care-is Rest- And with tranquillity's soft kiss It gently slumbers on its breast.
That isle I ever love to roam, And there from earth I blissful stray,
For oh ! Love calls it: "Home, Sweet Home," And there it fondly steals away.
Ah ! yes, upon that lovely isle Love breathes soft mystic strains ; No heart aches 'neath its gentle smile, No silent sighs, no sad refrains.
With sweetest song she wakes her lyre To soft, ecstatic, tender thrills, Hushing every tone of dire, In its warm heart music trills.
Then blame me not if oft from care I stray upon that mystic isle ; For ne'er Earth's sorrows could I bear, If there I found not sweet Joy's smile.
EMMA GOETZ.
Couvent of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, Oakland, Cal.
The very consciousness that the good opinions of others are unmerited, causes one to resolve to be worthy of them .- K. F.
The Marble Waiteth
Chisel in hand stood the artist-before him a huge block of mar- ble, like a great white cloud about to assume some fantastic shape. Before the sculptor's imagination was passing a long train of fancied images. What a strange picture they made ! And what a mingled and grotesque assembly ! He must be very near Olympus. See ! the form of beautiful Venus following that of a vestal virgin ; an inspired Pythoness led by a fearfully beautiful Medusa ; a dying gladiator and a lost Pleiad. What mean these varied forms ! The sculptor knew not what scene to carve from on the waiting marble. He called upon the gods of Olympus to inspire his heaven-born genius. He prayed ideal creatures to speak to his listening soul. Did his soul catch the answer ? Not from Olympus, for the Olympus of Mythology was but a dream. As he stood breathless, expectant, his listening spirit caught the sound of a chant from the ivied clois- ter on the bluff. He strained every nerve to hear the whole-souled harmony-he felt it thrill through him ; he felt the depth of its music ; he felt the inspiration it spoke. It told him of a dying Saviour, a sorrowing mother, a repentant Magdalene -- Angelo carved his Pielâ.
" Sculptors of life are we As we stand with our lives uncarved before us"
waiting pure and fair as the sacrificial mists that rise from the altar of earth to greet the morning, are our lives, as yet unscathed by sin and sorrow, unlined by care. While we are standing, chisel in hand, to shape the marble before us, false dreams of earth's delusions, bright visions of pleasure, of delight, fairy fire-flies of fancy, spark- ling for a day, float in the vista of our imagination.
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Let us seize not these delusive charms, but wait-wait, with listening soul, for the psalm of destiny. The zephyrs of prayer will waft to our soul its mystic music ; we will catch the strain as it floats from heaven. Upon the waiting marble let us chisel with a firm and steady hand the outlines of true and noble lives. Let us be faithful to the divine inspiration, and upon the yielding stone trace a form that we will be proud to submit to the Master Artist.
" Let us carve it then on yielding stone, With many a sharp incision : Its heavenly beauties shall be our own- Our lives, an angel's vision."
LUCILE EDWARDS.
Convent of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, Oakland, Cal.
TENSION
We are cradled in the star-hung world, watched and warded by angels, bearing the image of God, and preparing for a destiny, of whose glory thought has no image and language no name.
-Lulu French.
The Trinity Revealed in nature
When Almighty God placed us on this earth as at a resting-place on our way to our heavenly home, He spread over and around the stern realities of this transitory life a bright veil of delightful mystery, implanted within our souls the desire to enjoy its fascinations and gave us the power of instructing ourselves in the ways of the Creator. Nature is a book open to all, no blank pages do we meet when per- using it, but pages closely written. In it we read of God, of His goodness, His power, His perfections, His love. It is so related to the mind of men, that it is evident they were made for each other. The greatest, the purest pleasures we derive here below are from the contemplation of Nature ; but a higher purpose than present pleasure is accomplished; entering life as a germ the soul expands into intelli- gence, virtue and knowledge through the teachings of Nature, the wisest, gentlest, and holiest of teachers. Creative wisdom never works in vain or in sport. Even the flying cloud has its mission; its fantastic forms and gorgeous colors are divinely appointed. The hills and valleys, mountains and dales, which seem scattered in accidental confusion, have received their contour by design ; con- sequently, each stone and mineral composing these hills was also the work of special direction according to ends foreseen. In the living kingdom of Nature, too, there must be an adequate purpose and end accomplished by every movement, and in every creature of the Divine Hand.
Hence, the study of Nature does not only please, but it instructs, as it enables our intelligence to recognize Divine Intelligence. Nature is all luminous with the Divine Presence. It brings the operations of the great Architect almost within the grasp of human intelligence,
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revealing the conceptions of His Mind before they were embodied in actual existence. We hear His voice in the rolling thunder, contem- plate His immensity in the vast ocean, feel His power in the mighty torrent, and adore His love, beauty and goodness in the surpassing wonders of Nature. Nature is a limpid stream which reflects in all its favored loveliness, the most glorious of panoramas. Shall we not gaze into its pearly depths, and read with rapturous admiration and deep reverence the grand secrets which none but the Creator can communicate ? If some in the contemplation of its beauties have been unfortunate enough to forget their Author and wander from the path of truth, can we blame Nature for it ? No, certainly. For Nature, with her waving forests, verdant hills, fertile valleys, and countless rivers, stands as an image of its Creator-and this picture is one we see in almost every substance, animate and inanimate.
It is not my object now to speak of the relations between God and Nature, to define the Trinity, or to explain this first mystery of our Holy Faith, for I have not the capacity required ; moreover, the doc- trine of the Trinity is such an incomprehensible mystery, that the more we meditate on it the more wonderful and inexplicable it seems. It is a most sublime revelation, solving the numerous difficulties against which the ancient philosophers struggled in vain. The great St. Augustine, who has written fifteen books on the subject, says in the Conclusion : " But among the many things I have now said, there is nothing that I dare to profess myself to have said worthy of the ineffableness of the highest Trinity, but rather confess that the wonderful knowledge of Him is too great for me, and that I cannot attain to it." Then he concludes by a prayer, beginning with these words : "O Lord, our God, we believe in Thee, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, for the Truth would not say, Go, baptize all nations in the name of the Father, and the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, unless Thou wast a Trinity." In his work on the "City of God," Vol. 1, Book xi., he consecrates several chapters to this sub- ject, to which we may refer if we wish to study the matter.
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Every effect has within it some degree of perfection which gives to it a certain resemblance to its cause, at least analogically. As the artist seeks to leave on the canvas an image of what exists in his mind, so has God left in Nature an impress of the Trinity. Bourda- love, in one of his sermons, said that " there is no mystery where God is more incomprehensible than the mystery of the Blessed Trinity." At another time he said : " I have said it, and again avow it, that the act of religion by which we confess that three persons make one, is the greatest effort of faith." This every one will admit, but we must also acknowledge that no truth is so frequently and in so fascinating a manner presented to us. Almighty God, knowing the pride and stubbornness of man, who will seldom admit what he does not understand, has like an indulgent Father placed before our eyes proofs, as it were, of the Trinity. With wonderful love He smiles on us at every step ; we can not even speak, think, or act . without being ourselves images of the Trinity. No teacher is so . successful as he who lets his pupils believe that they have the merit of having discovered what his teaching alone has accomplished. So it is with Almighty God ; He has everywhere placed before us images of the Trinity, that we may have the pleasure of discovering these types of their Author. Father Faber says : " As the image of God's perfections, Creation was the faint shadow of that most gladdening mystery, the Eternal Generation of the Son." As the communica- tion of His love, and the love of His own glory, Creation also dimly . pictured that unspeakable necessity of the divine life, the Eternal Procession of the Spirit. " Perhaps all the works of God have this mark of His Triune Majesty upon them, this perpetual forthshadow- ing of the Generation of the God and the Procession of the Spirit, which have been and are the life of God from all Eternity.", Nature, grace and glory may thus perhaps all be imprinted with this mark of God, the emblem, the device, the monogram of the Trinity in Unity. The natural joy of beautiful scenery, the strong grace of Christian holiness, and the thrill of glory which passes from our souls from the unveiled face of God, all draw us home to the Blessed
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Trinity, our last End and First Cause. "A triple cord of His pres- ence is bound round all things, and penetrates through substance by essence, by presence, and by power." In the kingdom of Nature there are three separate worlds, which are full of exquisite enjoy- ment : the physical world, which is an emanation from the ever- lasting and inexhaustible gladness of the Most High ; the intellectual world, with its marvelous shadows of the incomprehensible joys of God himself ; and the moral world, representing Him who is the co-equal limit of the Godhead, the third person of the Blessed Trin- ity,-and yet these three worlds, the physical, intellectual and moral, are one world, a most striking picture of the Trinity. The three- fold heavens proclaim the Trinity. The earth, the sea, and the air form a temple by means of which we are to mount to that glorious kingdom where reside the blessed. Our sources of light are three : sun, moon and stars, that in obedient and majestic harmony tread the path which God has appointed, and move as one, never sleeping. Every great thing is triune. Of intelligent beings there are three orders : God, angels and men. Of created beings, three more : angels, men and brutes. Man is triune in almost every respect. First, his mind-"The mind of man," says St. Augustine, "who knows himself and loves himself, and the mind that knows itself, through itself is another image of the Blessed Trinity. These three are one and also equal, viz., the mind itself, the love, and the knowl- edge of it ; they exist substantially, are predicated relatively, and are inseparable." There is another trinity in the mind of man, which appears much more evident than the former, viz., his memory, understanding and will, which are not three minds, but one mind. The body of man consists of three parts : head, trunk and limbs ; each limb-three members, also three joints. In his face, three features of sense : eyes, nose and mouth ; and three other features ; fore- head, cheek and chin. Our lives consist of three stages : youth, manhood and old age. Living creatures are of three kinds : birds, beasts and fishes ; they move in three ways : walking, swimming, flying ; and have three modes of subsistence : carnivorous, herbiv-
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orous and omnivorous. There are three classes of savors : bitter, sweet and sour. Actions are of three classes : good, bad and indiff ferent. Truth also has three divisions : metaphysical, logical and moral. And so on throughout all the universe.
Almighty God has, indeed, everywhere so written the proofs of the Holy Trinity, that he must be very stupid who does not see them. The philosophers have divided philosophy into three parts : physi- cal, logical and ethical-not, however, with any allusion to the Blessed Trinity ; but it is certain that in these three great general questions all their intellectual energy was spent. Again, there are three things which every artificer must possess in order to effect any- thing-nature, education and practice. Nature is to be judged by capacity ; education by knowledge ; practice by its fruit-the nat- ural having respect to Nature ; the rational to education ; the moral to practice.
St. Augustine finds a picture of the Trinity in love-he that loves, the object loved, and love ; one also in sight ; another in the holding, contemplating and loving faith temporal ; besides many kinds of trinity, too numerous to mention. In the kingdoms of Nature, animal, vegetable and mineral, we have a trinity connected by another, sponges, zoöphytes and diatomes ; the mysterious chains which unite them add a new chain to the study of Nature. In many plants we also find a picture of the Trinity. St. Patrick found one in the shamrock, and used it to instruct the natives of Ireland in that mystery. No number is repeated oftener in the Holy Scriptures than the number three. There have been three dispensations of truth : the patriarchal, the Jewish, and the Christian. There are three divisions in the Old Testament : the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms. St. Paul mentions three heavens. Adam and Noah each had three sons. There were three great patriarchs : Abra- ham, Isaac and Jacob. The camp of the Israelites was threefold. Moses appointed three cities of refuge. Three orders served in the temple : high priests, priests and levites. The high priest wore a triple crown. The levites were of three classes. The Israel-
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ites had to assemble in the temple three times a year. There were three great religious festivals. According to Holy Script- ure, God has regulated all things in measure, number and weight, thus revealing another Trinity. In the New Testiment, three wise men came from the East to adore the Infant Jesus. The child Jesus was found in the temple after three days. Three apostles were with our Saviour at the Transfiguration, and three in the gar- den of Olives. There are three that give testimony in heaven : the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one. There are three Theological virtues : Faith, Hope and Charity. While remaining in this world we have three important duties to perform: to God, to our neighbor, and to ourselves. Three emi- nent good works: almsdeeds, prayer and fasting. Three evan- gelical counsels: poverty, chastity and obedience. In the Church of Christ, three orders: militant, triumphant and suffering. Observe a triplicity in rational speech: the voice, the word, and the breath. See it again in human existence : to be, to do, to suffer. Matter is disposed in three states : solid, liquid, and aeriform. There are three primitive colors: yellow, red and blue, for by the mixture of these all others are produced, and when blended they form clear white. In the human act there is a triplicity: thought, word and deed. In every syllogism, three parts. Three is an emblem of strength-a threefold chord is not easily broken. The triangle is of the utmost importance in mathematics. Time has three divisions : past, present and future. Our day is composed of three parts : morning, noon and night. The poets take cognizance of the num- ber three. Milton speaks of "three-bolted thunder," and his expression." thrice happy " has a superlative meaning. "In all religions," says Brownson, "in all philosophies, in all' thought, in all speech, we find asserted in some form the essential Triad, or the mystery of the Trinity." Even in the fables of Polytheism we find numerous traces of the Trinity. There were three principal deities-Jupiter, Neptune and Pluto. The Greeks divided their gods into three classes-celestial, terrestrial and infernal. They
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often represented their animals as having three heads. There were three Graces, three Gorgons, three Fates, and three times three Muses. The Romans formerly sacrificed three victims at the establishment of leagues and truces. The Celts and Goths had their triads of gods. The Druids found a trinity in the mistletoe, because its leaves and berries were formed in clusters of three united in one stalk. The divine triad of the Persians was repre- sented by a large circle, in the center of which was the upper part of a human figure joined to the body and wings of a dove. The circle emblem of eternity represented their supreme being; the human figure and the dove, thought, word and action. The Chinese attach a mystical importance to the number three. The Egyptians also had a notion of the Trinity. The Magi were a sort of trinity. Plato seems to have had some idea of the Trinity, as we see by his second letter to Dyonisius. The doctrine of the Trinity is known in the East Indies and Thibet. Many missionaries state the infidels whom they instructed had a faint knowledge of the Trinity. Thus it is at every step, in every clime, and at all ages, Man has lived, and is now living in the very shadow of the Trinity. Let the so-called scientific men of the age deny the existence of the God who created them ; let them lose themselves in the labyrinths into which false science has led them; they can not, no, they can not help feeling in their inmost souls the impenetration of the Triune God. His presence is proclaimed in every particle of matter around us. The bright spark of Intelligence within us is but a ray thrown off from the glorious refulgence of the Almighty. Ah! then, let us not forget our omniscient origin. While wandering among Nature's treasures and blissful meads, let us remember the Invisible Cause, and wait patiently for the time when the mysterious veil will be thrown aside, and we will find ourselves in the ever-shining, gladsome, loving, eternal splendors of the Divine Trinity.
KATIE A. CARR.
Convent of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, Oakland, Cal.
This little poem is supposed to have been drifted from the blue above, where a loved soul has found anchorage.
eln answer to Christian Reid's "Regret"
If thou hadst known, O loyal heart, That soon, so soon, the shadows fell, Thou couldst not then have played a part More kindly just ; the thought still lives, Through all the days remembered well, Within the sacred guard of one, Whom thou hast known.
Whom though hast known, yet scarcely knew, For all the tenderness that dwelt Beneath the outward calm so true, Told naught of hidden depth, so felt That slightest tone, or speech of thine, Had power to stir the soul of one, Whom thou hast known.
No matter where thy pathway hies, To strange, mysterious land unknown, Or full in God's bless'd presence lies, Thy thought will linger round the Throne And there 'twill be my sweetest prayer To link thy name, with that of one, Whom thou hast known.
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AN ANSWER TO CHRISTIAN REID'S "REGRET"
For loyal e'er I've been, and long And constant still my heart shall be ; No earth-born chains are half so strong As links formed by eternity. Now, all the years which love may give, Thy mem'ry sweetens for the one, Whom thou hast known.
O friend, look up, and mourn no more, The whitening clouds that o'er thee roam, Are but the snowy, golden floor That hides from mortal gaze the dome So steadfast blue that bends and bids Thee smile and comfort find, in one, Whom thou hast known.
For hearts grow strong through grief and pain, The mystic crucible is this That purifies from earthly stain, And love grows fair and does dismiss All dross ; it brightens in the light That shines on thee and on the one, Whom thou hast known.
Thy hand across the gulf of years, A pledge of thought that bridges space, A token now that knows no fears, That thrills our souls as they embrace. Awake to knowledge of the truth, That I am still the faithful one, Whom thou hast known.
Ramona
" O south-land, O dream-land, with cycle of green O moon-light enchanted by mocking-bird's song ; Cool sea-winds, fair mountains, the fruitland between The pepper trees shade, and the sunny days long O land, of my love, in thy heart may I rest."
The very name brings a perfume of almond and orange blos- soms-while one sees clinging to each support the tender grapevines, festooning themselves in a thousand fantastic forms-away in the distance stretch the thickets of wild mustard.
Look at this beautiful picture of that Home so graphically described by Helen Hunt : "Its windows open on the garden, and the doorway faces the east." "Between the veranda and the river meadows, all was garden, orange grove and almond orchard ; the orange grove always green, never without snowy bloom or golden fruit ; the garden never without flowers, summer or winter ; and the almond orchard in early spring a fluttery canopy of pink and white petals. On either hand stretched away other orchards,-pear, peach, apricot, apple, pomegranate, and beyond these, vineyards. Nothing to be seen but verdure or bloom, or fruit, at whatever time of year you sat on the south veranda."
Does not this vivid picture portray the features of every land - scape throughout the magnificent Southern valley which yields with the luxuriance of the fabled age-fair Garden of the Hesperides with its wealth of magic golden fruit, guarded not by the dragon of old, but by myriads of angels hovering with a special delectation o'er the valley of Los Angeles.
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CONVENT OF THE HOLY NAMES OF JESUS AND MARY RAMONA, LOS ANGELES CO., CAL.
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RAMONA
A thrilling sadness lingers round thy name O Ramona, causing one to pause and wander back to the early days of California, when the dusky sons of the forest were rulers of the sod. Scarcely a tract of land that does not teem with reminiscences of this period ; like a chain, the Missions link themselves through the land; each in itself placed where Nature's smiles are fairest. .
Just within call of the silver chime of the old San Gabriel, a new city has risen, bearing the name of Ramona, her highest emin- ence crowned by a Convent, filled with busy workers-courageous successors of the toilers of old. Yonder San Jacinto lies purple and hazy in the distance, while snow-capped "Baldy" keeps constant guard over the peaceful valley so quietly resting below.
Fair Italy with her far-famed mountains and picturesque sites is alone a rival of this gem of our Californian land-
But fairer than the blossoms of the south are the souls of little children, and our clime so favored in every respect lacks not this crowning. Guide then these little feet, O sister-band, that they falter not-lead on to the portals of Heaven, and this our Home, will truly be the vestibule of Paradise.
I often wonder if after all old memories have more of joy than of pain? 'Tis sometimes hard to revisit scenes of happier days.
-K. F.
The First Religious Festival in Ramona K
Never did a more promising day rise on Ramona's fair brow. Never did her verdant fields, sunlit hills and hoary old mountains appear more exultant than in the glow and beauty of her first relig- ious festival. Heaven's blessing and Earth's loveliness blending in one jubilant harmony, over which floats the grand voice of the Catholic Ritual which makes of this a day of golden memories which will ever be sacred to the pupils of this school and to the inhabitants of this part of the valley. For the first time the repre- sentative of Christ stands with uplifted hands, as the Savior of old, to call down blessings on the little ones of the flock ; that was a hallowed festival which dawned in the Jewish heavens eighteen centuries ago, and now Christ's prelate has repeated with heart and voice the Master's wish that the lambs of the fold should be guarded from all contaminating influences. For what should our children be, but angels with upraised hands, calling down heaven's graces on the family ? And what greater power is there with God than their childish innocence ? The philosophers of old called a man great, when, with his gray hairs he had preserved all the freshness and beauty of his childhood's heart. So our girls and our women will be great and their influence will be ennobling, if, from their pious teachers in the cloister they learn, notwithstanding the corrupting influences that vitiate the atmosphere which surrounds them, to keep their hearts and mind unsullied.
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