There are three things in this picture--a potato field, a country lad
and a country girl standing in the middle of it, and on the far
horizon the spire of a village church. That is all there is to it--no
great scenery and no picturesque people. In Roman Catholic countries
at the evening hour the church bell rings out to remind the people to
pray. Some go into the church, while those that are in the fields bow
their heads for a few moments in silent prayer.

That picture contains the three great elements which go to make up a
perfectly rounded Christian life. It is not enough to have the "root
of the matter" in us, but that we must be whole and entire, lacking
nothing. The Angelus may bring to us suggestions as to what
constitutes a complete life.


I.

The first element in a symmetrical life is _work_.

Three-fourths of our time is probably spent in work. Of course the
meaning of it is that our work should be just as religious as our
worship, and unless we can work for the glory of God three-fourths of
life remains unsanctified.

The proof that work is religious is that most of Christ's life was
spent in work. During a large part of the first thirty years of His
life He worked with the hammer and the plane, making ploughs and yokes
and household furniture. Christ's public ministry occupied only about
two and a half years of His earthly life; the great bulk of His time