dections ani nated you to renounce all such vain plea sures as may unfortunately lead you to crucify again he Son of God?-This is the moment to form those salutary resolutions, if you have hitherto neglected doing so. Penetrated with that holy fear of the judgments of God, and that firm confidence in his mercy, which the sufferings of Christ should naturally inspire, examine your heart at the foot of the cross, and see all that so great an example demands from you. Do not the excessive torments of Jesus reproach you with immortification and self-seeking? Does not the hard bed of the cross condemn your attachment to your own ease, and your horror of the least inconvenience? Can you reflect on such divine patience, meekness, and charity, without detesting your fretful, uncharitable conduct towards your fellow-creatures, your irritable and untractable temper? The silence of Jesus is a miracle of meekness-have you imitated it, when undeservedly or even justly reproved? The first words of our divine Redeemer on the cross, are a prayer for his executioners-is it thus you return good for evil; or rather, are you not perhaps actually criminal in the eyes of God, by anger, contempt, coolness, or want of charity towards your neighbour? Such is the examination you should make at the foot of the cross; for certain it is, that your crucified Lord is the model on which you will finally be judged. The day will come when a crucifix for the last time will be presented to you. To those who have endeavoured to avoid sin, which crucified their Lord, and to imitate the virtues which the cross teaches, the sight of that affecting object in the last awful ceremony, will be a source of the greatest consolation and confidence. To some, it cannot be otherwise than an anticipated condemnation. It is in vour power now to choose either: perhaps on the resolutions which you make in this very meditation, and the fruits of amendment you draw from it, depends your eternal salvation. Resolve, the gone,

rously to make a friend of Him, who will one day be your judge, and henceforward never to look on a crucifix without thinking of your obligation to imitate the virtues of your crucified Lord. O my merciful Redeemer! prostrate in spirit at the foot of thy cross, I thank thee for all thou hast done and suffered for my salvation. I beg of thee, by the efficacy of thy precious blood, to soften the obduracy of my heart, to enlighten my mind, and to strengthen my will, that I may faithfully accomplish all that thou requirest.

THIRD DAY.

On the chief Virtues which should adorn a Com

municant.

I. Point.-Consider that the holy Eucharist is called a mystery of faith, and that faith is perhaps the most necessary virtue for a good Communion; because without faith, we should discover nothing more than ordinary food in the bread of life. In this sacred mystery all is obscure, beyond the reach of our understanding, and imperceptible to our senses;we see nothing, feel nothing, taste nothing but common bread-we hear nothing extraordinary, so that it is the voice and light of faith alone, which, as the Church says, supplies the defect of the senses,* and firmly persuades us that the adorable Eucharist is not bread, though it appears so to us, but the living, glorious, immortal body of Jesus Christ. Ah! how grateful should you be for that precious gift of faith, by which you are enabled to penetrate the veils that conceal the Almighty from our view! With wha astonishment and delight should you be penetrated now that faith assures you that your God, yout * Præstet fides supplementum Sensuum defectui.

Pange lingua, or Hymn for Benediction

Creator, will so soon be your guest! With wh t profound humility, reverence, and awe, should you await the visit of that divine Being who drew the world out of nothing by his infinite power, who rules it by his wisdom, and who could in an instant destroy it by one act of his will! He it is, whom I am going to receive: yes, I firmly believe it, because Tesus Christ, the infallible truth, has said, this is my body. But has my faith all the requisites for enabling me to make a good and fervent Communion? Beside being firm, is it lively, active, supported by good works; or rather, does it bear any resemblance to that fruitless and dead faith, of which the Apostle speaks to the faith of many nominal Christians, whose belief and conduct are in direct opposition? O Lord! from thee I received my faith, even before 1 was capable of feeling the value of that precious gift: to thee I must now owe its increase give it, I beseech thee, all the animation and efficacy thou requirest.

II. Point.-Consider that there is no sacrament so calculated to excite the most tender and unbounded confidence in God as the holy Eucharist. It is the precious pledge of eternal life; the greatest of God's gifts; therefore He, who is bountiful enough to give such a blessing, cannot refuse any favour, since all others are less than that which is offered to us in one Communion. O consolatory thought! O solid foundation for hope and confidence! To-morrow I shall receive my God; to-morrow that compassionate Saviour will visit me, whose mortal life was a series of mercies-who never refused to pardon a repentant sinner-who received all who approached his sacred person-who deigned, with his own divine hands, to touch and heal the lepers themselves, and to whom no one was ever known to apply in vain. He is more anxious to grant me favours, than I could be to receive them. Ah! if the poor of this world could become rich, by only relying with confidence on the liberait y of a powerful benefactor-if the sick had

a certainty of receiving health, by resigning themselves to the care of a physician-if the afflicted could be consoled by confiding in a friend, who would be found indigent, weak, or dejected, throughout the world? But the liberality or kindness of creatures is always limited and insufficient, whereas that of the Almighty has no bounds, except those limits which we ourselves too often put to it by distrust. He will have mercy on us according to our hope in him, as the prophet says. O my God! how true it is, that the man is blessed who hopes in thee; since that soul cannot want any thing, who confidently expects all from thee. O! since I am going to receive the greatest gift thou canst bestow, why should I not firmly trust that thou wilt strengthen my weakness, inflame my insensibility, and give me, by this Communion, the grace to do all that is necessary for obtaining the effect of thy promises, since hope without good works is no better than presumption. Yes, my God, I hope for all this, and hoping in thee, I can never be confounded.

III. Point.-Consider why did Jesus Christ resolve to remain on our altars to the end of time, in a state of degradation and obscurity? Because he loves you too much, to leave you an orphan. Why does he conceal his adorable majesty, his divinity, and even his humanity, in this sacrament? It is, as St. Bernard says, "that the excess of his love alone may appear, and that the splendour of his glory may not deter you from approaching him with confidence." Why will this divine victim of love descend from heaven to-morrow, and renew the oblation of himself on our altars? To give you in his precious body and blood the most amazing proof of his tenderness, and to afford you by his actual presence a favourable opportunity of asking and receiving whatever you desire, that your joy may be complete. All this is so certain, that you may truly say with the Apostle, He has loved me, and delivered himself for me

Were I alone to be redeemed, he would have died for my sake; and were I alone to communicate, he would descend from heaven to become my nourish ment. O infinite love! O mystery of charity! how little art thou understood by those who are the ob jects of thy tenderness! how little impression has the infinite love of God made on the hearts of his creatures! Consider seriously, whether you be not amongst the number. Are you not perhaps at this moment unmoved by the love Jesus manifests in choosing you to become his temple? Search into the cause of your insensibility-is it not your neglect of that serious meditation on the benefits of God, in which, as the Prophet says, the fire of charity is enkindled? Are not your affections, which should belong to God, thrown away on creatures, which are the work of his hands? If so, it is not surprising that you are a stranger to that ardent love which animated the saints, and enabled them to do so much for the divine honour. Beg of that God of love who came to cast fire upon earth, to give you that sincere, generous, ardent love, which you cannot have without his assistance. O adorable Benefactor of my soul! I now feel that I was made to love thee, and that my heart can never find true rest but in thee. "O eternal Beauty! too late have I known thee! O infinite goodness! too late have I loved thee." Ah! my good God! thou didst form my heart, thou alone canst inflame its affections. I beg of thee, by all the love thou hast ever felt for man; and in particular, by that infinite charity which invites me to approach thy altars, that thou wouldst give me as the fruit of this meditation, the most lively and ardent charity. I resolve most seriously, to endeavour on my part to obtain that most precious gift, by making henceforward frequent acts of thy love-by performing all my actions through a motive of loveby detesting and avoiding, for thy love, all that displeases thee. Give efficacy, O Lord! to these re