There is in our lives a natural rhythm to which we must all conform: we are born, we grow to adolesence, reach maturity and then die. This larger individual rhythm, which is repeated in all animate nature, has its smaller counterpart in each cell of our bodies, and then again our bodily functions fit into the larger rhythms of our lives. All the rhythms must in their turn harmonize with the mighty throb of nature herself, whose endless cycle of the seasons brings home to all of us our ultimate dependence upon the Creator—God himself.

Mankind used to be very conscious that he was only a small part of the whole: he was much more aware than he is today that he had his appointed place in the vast scheme of things, and that he must co-operate with, rather than go against, nature. He knew, too, that certain work had to be done at certain seasons of the year in order to live at all.

Dearly beloved, the whole world is a partaker of all sacred solemnities, and love of the one faith demands that if honour is given any event, touching the salvation of all men, it would be celebrated everywhere with common rejoicing. Truly should today's festival be honoured, in addition to the reverence which it has merited from all the world, with a special and unique exultation in our City so that in the place where the death of the chief Apostles was made glorious there on the day of their martyrdom may exist a pre-eminence of joy. For these are the men through whom the good tidings of Christ brought a new light to you, O Rome, and you, Mistress of Error in the past, became the Disciple of Truth. These are your holy fathers and true shepherds who founded you so as to place you in heavenly kingdoms, establishing you much better and much more successfully than they by whose zeal the first foundations of your walls were laid. In fact, the one who gave you his name defiled you with his brother's blood.

We live in a time of speed, and there is a truly frightening flight from thought, reflection, depth and all things that lie below the surface. For this reason, among others, this time of speed has become a time of action, and a time of action becomes in matters spiritual a time in which particular stress is laid upon the apostolate.

The danger is that speed is valued more than rest, speech more than silence, action more than contemplation, and time more than eternity. For the layman especially the word ‘apostolate’ can lose all meaning unless it is the natural outcome of a full inner life. It is this inner life which still remains such a bewildering and unwieldy issue for him that the flight into social action may easily become flight from one's own problems. Perhaps the main difficulty lies in a lack of knowledge where there is plenty of good will. The knowledge we have of Christ remains like the negative of a photograph, lightless. It is not often realized that knowledge is a function of life.

The unspoken comment of many of us as we read or hear a parable from the Gospels is ‘This is ideal and good; but very unpractical'. It certainly does not seem to fit in with the world as we know it; our twentieth-century, fast-moving’ commercial world would seem an unsympathetic place for the practice of the Christian virtues. I think the truth really is however that it is all too practical, and in our more sincere moments we know that it is only the Christian virtue which is found in the most unlikely places, which keeps the world in existence at all.

The story of the Good Samaritan is of course a story made up to point a moral: it has its deliberate artistic exaggeration. To begin with our Lord chooses a Samaritan as the hero of his story, because the Samaritans were in the eyes of the Jews highly unpopular neighbours.

The exhumation of the mortal remains of Matt Talbot took place in Glasnevin Cemetery, Dublin, on Sunday, 29th June, 1952. His Grace the Archbishop of Dublin presided at the ceremony. The coffin of the Servant of God, when opened, revealed his mortal remains in skeleton form, and the burial shroud which appeared to be a Franciscan habit. In the coffin were also found three chains, three large medals, two crucifixes and portions of a large rosary. The medical experts, having taken the Oath, signed the medical report which will be inserted in the Acts of the Process. The ceremony is part of the Apostolic process of Beatification and Canonisation, and does not in any way anticipate the decision of the Holy See.

What kind of man was this Matt Talbot? What part did the chains, rosary beads and medals, found in his coffin, play in his life?

Matt Talbot was born on 2nd May, 1856, in Dublin. Both parents were pious, and in no way given to drink. They attended their monthly Confraternity Mass and Communion regularly. Twelve children, eight sons and four daughters, resulted from the marriage.