selves, since they never received that mark of infinite love. Beg of God most earnestly to enlighten your mind, that you may understand the greatness of the favour conferred on you; and also to touch your heart, that you may feel your obligation of acknowledging it by every means in vour power.

II. Point.-Cast yourself in spirit at the feet of your Creator, and present to him the sacrifice of thanksgiving which he deserves, viz. a voluntary, unreserved oblation of your whole being. Can that be too much for him who has created you to his image and likeness, and redeemed you with his precious blood? or rather, what can be enough for him who has loved you so far as to give you himself? If you would really and entirely belong to God, you should make a two-fold sacrifice-a sacrifice of your body with all its senses, and of your heart and soul with all their powers and affections. First, you should consecrate your body to God; that is, you should in future bear in mind the union you have contracted with God, and respect in yourself, the temple of the Divinity-a temple, of which he has so lately taken possession; consecrated by his presence, purified by his blood, and enriched with the most precious gifts of his holy spirit. This is the sacrifice to which St. Paul exhorts all Christians, but particularly commu nicants, when he says: I beseech you, brethren, by the mercy of God, that you present your bodies a liv ing sacrifice, holy, pleasing to God. (Rom. xii. 1.) Reflect also, that as a material temple is not alone consecrated to God internally, but is known before it is entered to be a house of God, by its external sulemnity; so should your modesty and christian deportment manifest to every one that you are really consecrated to God, and become the living temple of Jesus Christ. To animate you to this meritorious consecration of your senses to God, consider how strongly St. Chrysostom recommends it, when he says: It is not just that those eyes which have be

held the divine and sacred Host should afterwards delight in the vanity and idle follies of the worldthat those lips, which received and touched the God of heaven, should ever be profaned by frivolous discourses-that your tongue, on which the body of Jesus Christ reposed, should ever become instrumental in lessening the reputation of others, or in wounding charity. Present your resolutions on this head to God through the glorious Queen of Virgins. Set before your eyes, and resolve in every action of your life, to imitate this incomparable model of your sex, whom St. Anselm describes as having "nothing disagreeable in her looks, nothing inconsistent in her words, nothing imprudent in her actions ;-whose deportment was not assuming; whose voice was not loud or arrogant; and whose exterior modesty was a finished portrait of her interior purity." O most blessed Virgin! take me under thy protection, and preserve me from defiling by sin the temple of thy only beloved Son.

III. Point.-Consider that your immortal soul was created by God for himself; stamped with his own sacred image; redeemed with his blood, adorned with his graces, enriched with his merits, and often strengthened with that sacrament of life which you have so lately received. Its value must then be great, since God himself did not think it too dearly purchased by the blood of his only Son. Yes, you cannot be too deeply convinced that your immortal soul is your great and only treasure; to save that, no pains can be excessive, no security too great;-if that be lost, all is lost; and if you be so happy as to save that, though you lose all the rest, all is gained. What will it profit a man if he gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? (Matt. xvi. 26.) What does it now avail many of the damned, to have been on earth honoured, loved, respected, endowed with such beauty, talents, wit, or accomplishments as made them the idu's or envy of all around them? Alas! what does

all that avail them now, since they unfortunately lost their souls ?-Dwell on this irreparable misfortune, and you will soon feel the justice and necessity of curbing your passions, and leading a virtuous life. Your last words, perhaps, may be a recommendation of your soul into the hands of God; but remember that the best, the only means of securing for it an asylum in the bosom of its Creator, is by frequently consecrating all its powers to his honour and glory; by making use of your memory to recall the benefits and mercies of God; by employing your understanding in meditating on his holy law, that you may model your life on all it prescribes; and by renouncing your will so perfectly, as to have no other will than the will of God. But the victim of thanksgiving which God peculiarly requires from you, is your heart and all its affections. This is the sacrifice which will give value to every other, and without which all others would be vain;—it is that which above all others you should endeavour to make perfectly, because it is the offering which God himself condescends to ask; Son, give me thy heart. Consider how early you were taught to say: My God, I give thee my heart. These are the first words you daily utter, still perhaps you have not yet really offered your whole heart to God. Ah! delay no longer to whom does it so justly belong? who ever loved you so much as God? who can make you happy, but God? O divine Lord! how true it is, that I have never been satisfied but when I endeavoured to serve thee, to act for thee, to give myself to thee. How sincerely I regret having ever cast away a single thought, a single affection, or a single moment of my existence, on any object less than thee, my Creator and my God! Penetrated with gratitude for that infinite mercy which induced thee to give thyself to me in the adorable Eucharist, I most fervently wish that I could make thee a sacrifice worthy of thyself; but as that is impossible--as thou knowest my pov. erty, and wilt he content with the little I can give

permit me to offer thee my whole being, my body, my soul, my life, my actions, my will, and above all, my heart and affections. O my God! accept this oblation, in union with the sacrifice which Jesus offered thee on the cross, and in union with the early consecration which his blessed Mother made of herself to thee in the Temple.

SECOND DAY.

On the Imitation of Jesus Christ.

I. Point.-CONSIDER attentively, that as one of the chief ends for which Jesus gives himself to us in the holy Communion, is to unite us to himself, and to make us one with him, those who communicate are much more strictly bound than all others to endeavour to resemble their Redeemer. St. Thomas says, that in the holy Eucharist Jesus Christ applies his most sacred body like a seal on the heart of man, to revive that adorable image of the Divinity to which we were created; and to transform his creatures into himself, by imprinting on the soul the image of his adorable perfections, and infusing into the heart abundant graces to imitate his virtues. To become a perfect imitation of Jesus Christ, you should conform your judgment, your opinions, your ideas, your heart, feelings, and all your affections, to those of your divine Lord-thinking and reasoning like Jesus, and judging of all things here below as he judged of them. The thoughts of Jesus were always directed to God, or bent on something relative to the glory of God. How do you act in this respect? Have you ever reflected on the benefit and even necessity of banishing idle or useless thoughts? Are you convinced, that to repress those, and substitute a frequent and respectful recollection of God, would be the best guard you could have against those thoughts of vanity or pride which are so common and so sinful when indulged? Jesus Christ judged of all things as God judges of them.

he viewed the things of this world in the light of God and pronounced on every thing passing in it accord ingly. He valued what God values, ana despised all that God despises. His adorable heart, inflamed with love for God, and desire for his glory, was incapable of a single sentiment of joy, of sorrow, of fear, of hope, of consolation, or sadness, but according as the interests, the glory, the worship of his heavenly Father were concerned. Examine your mind and heart on this most perfect and adorable model. Be ashamed of the trifles with which you have been hitherto delighted, or the insignificant incidents at which you have been grieved. Consider, what would Jesus have thought of them, how he would have regarded what you so much value or so greatly apprehend. O my divine and adorable Master! instead of looking on all things as thou seest them, and as I myself shall see them after death, I have consulted my interests, my passions, my imagination, and the corrupt maxims of the world, in forming my opinions and ideas. I have unfortunately sought after those very things which thou didst shun-I loved what thou didst hate-I have hated what thou didst love. Thou didst pronounce those blessed and happy who suffer, and I have always considered them as objects of compassion-thou didst despise and flee from the riches, honours, and pleasures of this world, and I have desired and esteemed them as great advantages. O my God! enlighten me to see and detest my folly.

II. Point.-Consider, that the first lesson which Jesus Christ gives you in his early years, is the necessity of becoming more virtuous, more rational, as you become older; for Jesus, as the Gospel says, increased in grace and wisdom with God and man. (Luke ii. 52.) Learn from this, that as every day, every hour the Almighty adds to your life, every grace, every instruction you receive, should advance you in the road of solid virtue. In particular, every time you have the happiness cf communicating, you