or, for she founded a large number of convents, both
for men and women. Blessed Margaret Mary was only a simple nun in the
Visitation Convent of Paray-le-Monial, yet God chose her to make known
and spread the great devotion of the Sacred Heart, a devotion which
has brought more comfort and consolation to sorrowing humanity than
the combined philanthropic efforts of a century. God took a gay
cavalier, whose only ambition was to wear foppish clothes and thrum a
guitar, made him into a friar, and bade him found the great Franciscan
Order, whose glorious works for mankind cannot be enumerated.

And if we ponder the nature of religious life, the marvels
accomplished by simple religious cease to astonish us. One who devotes
the major portion of his time and attention to a definite object will
certainly attain great results. Now, most religious seek their own
sanctification in concentrating their energies on the welfare of their
neighbor, in ever studying, working, planning for his betterment. The
love of God, as shown in charity to others, is the absorbing purpose
of their life. On the other hand, the man of the world must generally
care first and foremost for himself and family, and only the time he
has left, incidentally as it were, can he bestow upon others.

This point is thus forcibly expressed by St. Paul (I Cor. vii: 32-34):
"He who is unmarried is solicitous for the things of the Lord, how he
may please God. But he who is married is solicitous for the things of
the world, how he may please his wife; and he is divided. And the
woman, unmarried and a virgin, thinketh on the things of the Lord,
that she may be holy in body and soul. But she who is married,
thinketh on the things of the world, how she may please her husband."

The works of the religious orders are varied and numerous. Some care
for the outcasts of society, some for the sick or the old, the orphan
and the homeless; others, leaving the comforts and conveniences of
modern life, cheerfully face the danger and hardships of remotest
lands to bring the light of the Gospel to pagan nations. More than a
million Chinese to-day are fervent Christians, and to whom do they owe
their faith under God? To religious missionaries. The Benedictines of
old spent their lives in the pursuit of learning, and in teaching
barbarous tribes the art of husbandry. The glorious Knights Templar
were a militant order; and the members of the Order of the Blessed
Trinity for the redempt