code: public static Properties loadProperties(String path){
          ClassLoader cl = Thread.currentThread().getContextClassLoader();
          InputStream in = null;
          try {
              in = cl.getResourceAsStream(path);
  
              Properties properties = new Properties();
              properties.load(in);
  
              return properties;
  
          } catch(IOException ex){
              return null;
  
          } finally {
              IOUtil.closeQuietly(in);
          }
      }
docs: Loads ("quietly") a property file to a property object
  
  @param path the file path
  
  @return a property object with properties from a file, or null if the property file
  can't be opened/accessed.