the hands that give, that we may think only of His Heart. The feeling of love, or personal devotedness, being superior to that feeling which leads us to abandon all that we possess, our Lord demonstrates the excess of His love by giving Himself up for us. By His perpetual immolation He has even gone far beyond the simple gift of Himself. This truth is enforced upon me by the consideration of Calvary, the Altar, and the Holy Communion.

When I reflect upon the immense value to me of these immortal monuments of the liberality of my Lord, I am lost in admiration and gratitude. But I have nothing but my liberty to offer in return. I submit it entirely to Jesus, and that I may yet more fully assure to Him the gift of my heart, I will cease to love myself.

My Jesus, I am poor. I have need of all things: and Thou hast left me nothing further to ask of Thee! For by Thy Cross, and by Holy Communion, hast Thou not given me all things? I thank Thee for exhausting, as it were, in my favour the riches of Thy grace. Since I can neither do anything for Thee nor give Thee anything, I acquit myself of this mighty debt, by offering to Thee Thy Heart, by which all has been bestowed upon me.

My God, receive the Heart of Thy dear Son. It will make amends for my poor and feeble praises and thanksgivings.

III. The courageous love of Jesus.

What great and wonderful courage must our Lord have been possessed of when He went boldly up to Jerusalem to endure His cruel sufferings and death. Does He need less courage to endure the crimes which are daily committed against His Divine Majesty? This courage proceeds from His Heart.

Our courage in suffering will be equal to the degree of love felt by us towards our Lord Jesus Christ.

But this love is inspired and given by the Holy Eucharist. Let us beseech our Lord to cause it to grow and increase in our hearts, and in the souls of all those whom we love. I must consent to all that God decrees for me, even should it be His will to strew my path with thorns, and to give me the cup of gall and bitterness to drink all my life long. If all my days are marked with the Cross, I must think that they are laying up a treasure for my soul, the full value of which will only be made known to me in heaven.

Lord Jesus, after receiving Thy crucified Body, I will remember that in deigning to give Thyself to us in the state of Sacrifice, Thou hast carried Thy love to its fullest extent. Certain that I too must suffer, if I desire to be made like unto Thee, I will bear all my trials with resignation. Without suffering, what could I know of the value of sorrow and of the depths of love to Thee it may awaken in my soul? Thy grace is indispensable to enable me to suffer courageously, but when I consider the love which honoured God by the Great Sacrifice, I cannot complain of my lesser sufferings.

IV. The active love of Jesus.

How great is the love of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament! He does not let a single moment pass without performing some act of love for us. Consecrations call Him down each instant upon the Altar. Communions call Him into the hearts of His people.

In all these acts of love our God desires to see His motives appreciated, His love returned, and His end attained. If Jesus had said to me: 'My child, I love thee, and desire to give the greatest possible proofs of My love,' I could never have imagined the gift of the Holy Eucharist, nor could I have formed the slightest idea of the love which It declares. Neither could I have ever had the audacity to reply:

I believe in Thine infinite love O my God, but give me some proof it which shall be within the reach of my comprehension.

If He had consented to do this, I could never have dreamed of proposing to Him, that He should hide His Divine Majesty under the appearances of bread and wine: that I might be able to quench my thirst in Him at the very Fount of Love. That which the mind of man could never have asked or imagined, God has resolved upon and accomplished! But Jesus did not call me to His Table, merely to leave me peacefully reposing at His Feet, He intends to associate me in His great work of saving souls. He intends to make me the instrument of His mercy, the apostle from His Heart to the world. Oh, how deeply should I be penetrated with the thoughts and feelings of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament ! How my heart should be influenced in beholding His burning love and ardent desire for the salvation of the souls of men !

Lord Jesus, I am incapable of enlightening the minds or of attracting the hearts of sinners to Thee: but I desire by my life, to show forth the power of Thy love, and to devote all my powers of mind and body to Thy service. May I be ever ready to follow Thee in acts of mercy. Awaken in my cold heart the flame which burns in Thine. May it increase mightily, that my whole conduct may be actuated by love to sinners.

Let me not incur the danger of doing anything contrary to Thy will. May Thy Divine grace cause all my actions and my whole conduct to partake of a nature supernatural and divine.

V. The immutable love of Jesus.

Our Lord Jesus Christ, upon entering the world in our nature, gave Himself to us as an everlasting gift never to be resumed, in time or in eternity. By

His perpetual presence with us, He reminds us perpetually of His love. Let us consider this wondrous love, so constant that He receives us tenderly, even when we have but lately offended Him; and joyfully, though He knows that ere long we shall offend Him again. This love, so persevering, so strong, and yet so delicate in all its manifestations, which will not be discouraged by our unfaithfulness in the future, as it has not been discouraged by our offences in the past. When we have laid the burden of our sin at the feet of Jesus, He casts it into the depths of the sea, and it is no more remembered against us. Let us abide in His love. His Presence will establish and confirm our feelings of love and gratitude towards Him.

Jesus has now given me the true and certain proof of His wondrous love for me; His love which existed from all eternity. Ah! let me never be so faithless, so distrustful as to fear that, having thus surrounded my whole life with the tokens of His love and favour, He will withdraw that love from me at the hour of my death. If this fear arises from a sense of my responsibility, of the account which I must render for all the graces which His favour has lavished upon me, then the proofs of His love have only served to increase my ingratitude. The marks of affection which I receive from my friends on earth do not produce this effect upon me; why should the love of Jesus Christ, so far above that of creatures, inspire me with less confidence? Henceforth I will love our Saviour more, and I will fear Him less. It is not too much to love God all my life, when He loved me from all eternity.

O my Divine Master! the love of God, unlike all earthly affections, attains its full power over our hearts only when it becomes an overwhelming passion. Give me grace to love Thee with holy passionate fervour; to love Thee always; that my acts of love may be

no longer so quickly forgotten. Make me love Thee in time and to all eternity.

Conclusion.

Our love for Jesus must be subject to the natural laws of His imposing. If we love Him perfectly as we ought to do, His holy love will absorb all our thoughts and inspire all our actions. Let us be careful how we permit any unknown passion to oppose itself to that Divine love which sanctifies us, for sanctity proceeds from the love of God alone.

ELEVENTH MEDITATION FOR HOLY
COMMUNION.

IMITATION OF JESUS CHRIST.

Preparation.

THE institution of the Holy Eucharist was the commencement of a new era. Christ invisible taking the place of Christ visible amongst us. It restores to us in part the sweetness of His presence, in proposing to us important duties. One of the objects of frequent Communion is to encourage us to imitate Jesus Christ, to enter into His feelings, to conform our judgment to His, to practise some of His virtues; in a word, to render the presence of Jesus visible in our outward behaviour, His goodness visible in our actions. Let His patience be in all our movements, His gentleness upon our lips, that God may behold in us the image of His Son.

'From my youth up I have been in trouble and suffer ing' (Psalm lxxxvii. 16).

Jesus in His youth lived the ordinary life of an artisan. In His dress, under the appearance of a