The faith of our fathers - Carmel Apologetics

BACKED IMAGES. 245tions, as have been produced by the silent spectacleof our Saviour hanging on the cross.5, The portraits of the saints stimulate us to the imi*tation of their virtues ; and this is the principal aimwhich the Church has in view in encouraging theuse of pious representations. One object, it is true,is to honor the saints ;another is to invoke them :but the principal end is to incite us to an imitationof their holy We lives."are exhorted to look anddo according to the pattern shown us on the mount." 1Nor do I know a better means for promoting pietythan by example.If you keep at home the likenesses of GeorgeWashington, of Patrick Henry, of Chief- JusticeTaney, or of other distinguished men, the copiesof such eminent originals cannot fail to exercise asalutary though silent influence on the mind andheart of your child. Your son will ask you : Whoare those men ? And when youtell him : This isWashington, the Father of his Country ;this isPatrick Henry, the ardent lover of civil liberty;and this isTaney, the incorruptible Judge, yourboy will imperceptibly imbibe not only a veneration for those men, but a relish for the civic virtues for which they were conspicuous. And inlike manner, when our children have constantlybefore their eyes the purest and most exalted models of sanctity, they cannot fail to draw from such a21*1Exod. xxv. 40.