Page:The Great Encyclical Letters of Pope Leo XIII.djvu/39

 prosperity, it seems expedient to encourage associations for handicraftsmen and laboring men, which, placed under the sheltering care of religion, may render the members content wdth their lot and resigned to toil, inducing them to lead a peaceful and tranquil life.

On Our undertakings, Venerable Brothers, and on yours, may He confer favoring aid to whom we are bound to refer the beginning and the end of all good. We have ample ground to hope for speedy help during these auspicious days when the festival of Our Lord's Nativity is being celebrated. That new deliverance which Christ, born into a world sinking with years and well-nigh crushed wth the weight of ills, charges us to hope for; that peace which then He announced to men through the ministry of angels, He has promised to bestow likewise on us. For the hand of the Lord is not shortened, that He cannot save, neither is His ear heavy, that it cannot hear. During these days, then, of most happy augury, Venerable Brothers, wishing to you and to all the faithful of your churches all joy and prosperity, We earnestly pray the Giver of all good gifts that anew to men may appear the goodness and kindness of God our Saviour, who, after having snatched us from the power of a ruthless enemy, has raised us up to the most exalted dignity of being sons of God. And in order that our vows may be the more speedily and abundantly satisfied, join with Us, Venerable Brothers, in addressing to God fervent prayers, invoking also the patronage of the Blessed Virgin Mary ever immaculate, and of her spouse, Joseph, as also of the blessed Apostles, Peter and Paul, in whose intercession we greatly confide. And in the meantime, with inmost affection of heart to you. Venerable Brothers, to your clergy and to all the faithful throughout the world, as a harbinger of the divine gifts, We impart Our Apostolic blessing.