In the Land of Fire and Desolation, from a Patagonian Missionary.. From the Crow Camp, a Montana Missionary's Letter.. St. Joseph for the Colored Missions.... NARRATIVE. PAGE 145 169 193 201 218 241 250 267 Father Daniel's Last Mass (July 4, 1648), by Charles E. Jakeway. Hymn for the League of the Sacred Heart, Music from Zanardini, arranged by Rev. T. A. May Hymn, Music from Pinsuti, Words and Adaptation by Rev. T. A. Metcalf.. Hymn to the Sacred Heart, Words and Music by Rev. T. A. Metcalf.. Ave Maris Stella, Music from Zanardini, arranged by Rev. T. A. Metcalf. 22 113 143 262 THE NEW YORK ASTOR, LENOX ANB TILDEN FOUNDATIONS. 1909 DO YOU KNOW EMMANUEL? T is strange how few people take pains to make acquaintance with the Only Person Whom it is really important to know. They try to make other friends, they keep up the slightest acquaintance with the rich or with men of influence in business, in society, in politics. They are always hail, fellow, well met! with their comrades. But the Only Person Whose riches last, Who has all influence in this world and the next, Who is the Best of all companions, "walking with us by the way,"-Him many never know, others forget, and yet others shut the door against Him when He comes their way. And the few who keep up His acquaintance for the most part pay Him less attention than to the commonest of their every-day friends. This is because they do not really know Who this Only Person is. His name is Emmanuel. When the Czar of all the Russias visits the German Emperor, even republican America knows who each one is, their age, their general appearance as the illustrated papers have it, their family intermarriages with England, and their dispositions, friendly or unfriendly, towards France and other countries. And nearer home each freedom-loving American, when the President makes his round of travel, must at least see him and, if possible, take him by the hand. How many know or care to see Emmanuel, Who is a greater King than all emperors, Who is of the family of every man, Who is always among men because "His delight is with the children of men?" Emmanuel is the name of a Man. But this name has a meaning: it means-God with us. Men nowadays as always, here as everywhere, need very sorely to see God. They may try to hide it from themselves, or they may say that they know a great deal about Him already, but this is the sad truth. When they wake at dead of night, when they are alone in the fierce thunder-storm, when the darkness and desolation of a great grief come over them, they need very sorely to see God. Then they would feel a little more secure. They would know then just what awaits them after the darkness of death, and whether the wrongs and sorrows of this life will really be made up in the next. But God is a pure Spirit and somehow very far off. Through his telescope man sees the farthest star, but he catches no glimpse of God. The light of conscience shines inside him, but without God it only shows him troublous phantoms. Oh, God must come down to him; he must know Emmanuel-God with us! Emmanuel is a Man, that is, He has flesh and blood and a human soul like ours. But we wish to know Him personally, and this person is totally unlike other men. That is why Emmanuel is the Only Person Whom it is really important to know. He lives, but His is more than human life. He took in His own the hands of a maiden who had died, and she lived again. He stood in front of a tomb, weeping with those who wept; and then, suddenly, with His wonderful mastery of life He called to His dead friend, and the corpse, four days mouldering in the earth, came forth rejoicing in new life. Even from the hem of His garment healing came to the sick, and still comes, year after year, to many who know Him as He is. But we need life very sorely, and we fear sickness and death. This Person is the Master of life we must therefore know Him-Emmanuel. He knows, but not with the narrow knowledge of even the most learned men. He looks into the hearts of the men who come before Him, He knows those inmost thoughts which are not clear even to ourselves. When we try to make full confession of our sins to the priest, we only aim at telling them as He knows them. What is more, He knows God's thoughts. Nearly all we can know about God, we must learn from Him; and one day HeEmmanuel-will examine and judge us. But we must know how to prepare for that last judgment. We must therefore make haste to know this Person Who is the Judge and Who is Light of Light. He loves, and with a human Heart that sends the blood pulsating through His veins. But His heart-beats are not like other men's. Death is the test of love. They may, now and again, die one for another-a mother for her child, or a man for his very dear friend, or many together in the enthusiasm of battle for their homes and their country. But He dies—He chooses of His own will to die-for all men, for men who do not know Him, for those indifferent to Him, for His enemies. They misuse life and trifle with it. That they may not lose it forever, He lays down His life for them. No man taketh it from Him—it is the will of His Heart. Hath a man greater love for his friend than this? Yet to profit by it, we must know the Person of our Friend-Emmanuel. The life, the knowledge, the love—wonderful, more than human, Divine-of this Person, Emmanuel, are not over with His death; for He is the Master of life—always living to make intercession for us. He is God with us-even to the consummation of the ages. He is ever knocking at the door of our hearts, offering us His own life, which is the forgiveness of sin and the strength of grace. He is ever teaching us just what we must do to be saved, from sin and misery here, from death and the eternal darkness hereafter. He is ever loving us, giving to all willing to receive Him His own Being in mystic Food. For Emmanuel, Whom we must know, is Jesus Christ: this Person is the Eternal Son of God become Man, taking human nature on Himself and living in a human mode of existence in time. And Emmanuel-God with us-Jesus Christ-teaches us in His Church, gives us life in the Church's sacraments, and, in a new and veiled existence, loves all and draws hearts to Himself in the Divine Eucharist-the Blessed Sacrament of our altars. There we shall know Him like His disciples after the resurrection,-in Holy Communion-in the breaking of the bread. THE A DAKOTA CHRISTMAS MORNING. were HE tinkling of a little bell-"O my God, I give Thee my heart!"-" A Merry Christmas, children!” Such the sounds that, at four o'clock in the morning, broke the slumbers of the boarders remaining at the convent for the Christmas vacation. It was in a religious institution away off on the great western prairie, near the border line of the Dominion of Canada. "Merry Christmas!" was answered back in every cadence, from the sleepy tones of one who was not yet fully awake, to the high treble of some terrible "little one," who had been awake for over |