Page:TheYoungMansGuide.djvu/451

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

Pope. The Prince of Wales has borne for his motto "I serve" since the fourteenth century. In a way we are all one another's servants. St. Thomas Aquinas says: "That wherein one man excels another man is given him of God that therewith he may serve other men." Our blessed Saviour tells us of Himself: "The Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister " (Matt. xx. 28). At the Last Supper He washed His apostles' feet, saying to them: "I have given you an example." His example and His teaching are that the highest must not disdain the lowest, and that all are to serve all. Now we can all serve or help others by our cheerfulness and amiability. A cheerful person creates a wholesome moral atmosphere around him, and exerts an invigorating influence upon his environments

There is great merit also in cheerfulness, when it is cultivated from a supernatural motive, when it is the fruit of divine, and fraternal charity. It requires sell-control: and self-denial to maintain cheerfulness under all circumstances - in sickness, in pain, in sorrow, in poverty, in misunderstanding, and in, unpleasant surroundings. Christian cheerfulness implies something more than natural temperament; it means self-denial self-control. Natural disposition should not be offered as an excuse for being morose and rude. By the grace of God and with an earnest effort we can overcome our evil nature.