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her as do the insects to the arc lamp. Amid the doubts and contentions of philosophic schools, she served the Gentiles as does the beacon light the benighted and storm-tossed mariners. The multitudes were converted to Christ and the strength of the Gentiles came to Him, showing forth praise to the Lord by gifts not of gold and frankincense, but of believing and faithful hearts. Especially blessed were the Gentile poor, for though they had not seen they believed more readily than the Jews, and having once come to Christ they clung to Him more perseveringly than the Magi. The common people are Christ's chosen ones; He became one of us, from us He chose His Apostles, among us He made His first converts. That with and through the lowly began His conquest of the world, proclaims both God's omnipotence and the superior aptitude for heaven of the humble. They are the .good soil unchoked by weeds and thorns; they are the dry wood which readily catches the heaven-sent fire and spreads the conflagration. The rich and mighty, on the contrary, hiss and groan like a sapling amid the flames. They are like doves trying to soar with wings defiled by pitch. The poor man puts aside the world as readily as he does his coat, but for the rich, it is like tearing off their skin. They are the world's slaves, as are all men except the faithful poor — poor in spirit. For mind you, poverty without faith is double slavery, since its victim carries the cross indeed — not the cross of Christ but that of the wicked thief. Having