angels do in heaven. I submit myself entirely to Thy good pleasure. May my hopes be fed by the great hope of eternal happiness, and take not away from me the daily consolation of the Eucharistic Feast. Ah, Lord, can one who is dying of hunger think of what may happen on the morrow? And when I am expecting to receive Thy Body, can I think of any other good things? Give me the joy of Thy Presence in the midst of the tumults and the combats of life.

I should not feel my full life if I communicated less often, because I should be less certain of Thy love, which is the life of my soul; but grant me also that I may always ask fervently for grace to love Thee, and to receive Thee as often and as worthily as possible.

IV. We should give thanks to Jesus as our Benefactor.

My mind is lost in contemplation of the multitude, the extent, the variety of those benefits which Jesus Christ bestows upon me. I owe Him, first, the preservation of my life and of my being a benefit quite distinct from that of my creation, and quite as wonderful. All the gifts of the natural order-health, fortune, position, all intellectual gifts, intelligence, liberty, freewill; all gifts of the spiritual order, the first of which is that supernatural life which was bestowed upon my soul by Jesus Christ at my baptism -a life mysterious, but real, emanating from His adorable Humanity; a preparation for the state of glory; for, says Bossuet, Grace and glory proceed from the same beginning, just as youth precedes mature age.'

I owe to our Lord a multitude of present graces, which are daily bestowed upon my soul, that it may choose the good and refuse the evil. If I do not fall into a multitude of sins, it is because Thy grace preserves me from them; for I feel in me the root of every bad inclination. If these roots of evil do not

flourish and bear fruit in me, it is because Thy grace prevents their growth. A thousand dangers which surround me, body and soul, are averted by the cares of Thy ever-watchful Providence, and by the ministry of the Angel who is sent to guard me in all my ways. The Blessed Virgin, my tender and powerful protectress, is one of the most excellent gifts bestowed on me by the Heart of Jesus. Her continual succour is an ever present source of benefits.

I owe to our Lord the gift of the Holy Spirit, bestowed upon me in the Sacraments, and more especially in the Sacrament of Confirmation. But the sweetest gift of all is the Holy Eucharist, where Jesus hides His virtues, His strength, His holiness, and shows us His goodness only. And yet this great and wonderful gift is but a preparation for the greatest gift of all-the Vision of God and Eternal Beatitude! It is not in my own merits, but in the merits of Jesus that I hope to attain unto eternal life; and the love of Jesus, not any virtue of mine, will open the gates of heaven to me.

O Jesus, my heart can express nothing of all that it has to say! But cause me to feel a gratitude worthy of Thy gifts; and that I may conceive it, give me Thy Heart, which knows and feels all that I owe to Thee.

V. We should entertain Jesus as a faithful Friend.

Is it not in Holy Communion that Jesus fulfils His promise, 'Henceforth I will no more call you servants, but friends?' Holy Scripture calls the faithful friend 'a precious treasure.' How sweet it is to be allowed to call Jesus our Friend, and to know that this title is one of His own devising! Let us love this Friend, who has given His life to win our love, this eternal Friend whose affection will never pass away.

As a friend, Jesus deserves my entire confidence. But how rare and difficult a thing is perfect confidence ! It seems as if man always retained some

remembrance of that memorable day when he reposed in the Tempter a confidence which was most frightfully misplaced; and henceforth he gives but a halfhearted, timorous confidence to Him who gave His life to merit and obtain it. Who can have more right to my confidence than Jesus? He permits me to say, My God and my Friend; but He requires a proof that I really consider Him one. Have I given Him this proof by renouncing for Him the friendship of creatures?

I have great need to interrogate my soul respecting its feelings towards Jesus Christ? Do my Communions unite me more closely to Him? Do they aid me in comprehending the worth of His Cross? Do they instil into me the love of duty, and contempt for the world? After each Communion does my soul feel more deeply that she is a stranger and foreigner upon earth? And does she aspire more ardently to her home in heaven?

Lord Jesus, my conversation with Thee leaves behind it no taint of bitterness. Thy presence ever rejoices and consoles. The expectation of Thy coming, and the recollection of my last Communion, lightens all my grief, disperses my weariness and petty trials, fills up the void in my soul, enables me to bear the deeper trials of my state in life, and the cross of the present day. Draw me still more closely to Thyself in proportion as I receive thee more frequently. Make me seek in Thee that which I most want, gracethat fruit of Thy Blood which grows not upon earth, but which is given by Thee to all who earnestly pray for it.

VI. We must ask Jesus for grace to be ready to sacrifice ourselves with Him.

In the Eucharist, Jesus is at the same time Priest and Victim: Priest, because He offers up Himself the sacrifice of Himself; Victim, because it is He Who is

immolated and consummated in our hearts. But this great sacrifice which was begun on Calvary, and is continued in a mystical manner on the Altar, must receive its accomplishment in each one of us. As St. Paul says: 'I fill up that which was wanting of the sufferings of Christ in my flesh, for His Body's sake, even the Church' (Coloss. i. 24).

The glory of God in the Holy Sacrifice borrows nothing from the merits of Him who offers it; but in my Communions the glory of God proceeds entirely from the degree to which my soul is united to Jesus sacrificed. Communicating so frequently as I do, I ought, like St. Paul, to know nothing but 'Jesus crucified,' and I should be, after Him, the priest of my own sacrifice. And when I see what Jesus undertook that He might descend to me, shall I shrink from the hope of uniting myself to Him, because it will involve multiplied sacrifices?

O my Jesus, I cannot be so frequently united to Thee as a sacrifice, and yet escape from Thy law of expiation and suffering. Lord, give me a part in Thy sacrifice, according to the measure of my weakness. Many of the trials which weigh down the lives of others are spared to me; and yet there is a thorn in my life also. Make me consent to those innumerable daily trials, so insupportable to my natural feelings, which render my life bitter. I complain not of them, for they are inevitable; it is sufficient that I can weep over them near Thy Heart. May these continual internal trials serve henceforth for my preparation before, and my thanksgiving after Holy Communion!

Conclusion.

We ought to suffer nothing to prevent us from coming to Jesus; neither troubles, nor sorrow, nor suffering, nor our own unfaithfulness, provided that our hearts are not in any of these things. Our infirmi

ties and trials should hasten us to take refuge in His Heart, that centre of Christian souls. Let us return then to the Holy Table as often as our necessities lead us to seek for relief, consolation, support, and above all, for grace to preserve us from sin. Let us remember those words of the Blessed Margaret Mary: 'It is better to lose all than to lose the favour of the Heart of Jesus.'

SIXTH MEDITATION FOR HOLY COM

MUNION.

WAITING FOR AND RECEIVING JESUS CHRIST.

Preparation.

It is a delicious feeling to be expecting the arrival of a beloved friend; we count the hours, we try to forget nothing that can give him pleasure; and our hearts beat more quickly as the moment of his arrival draws near.

Holy Communion enables us to receive Jesus always, and yet always to be expecting Him again. Ah, if we could feel towards Him as we do to our dearest friends, how fervent our devotion would be! Jesus deserves these feelings at our hands when we come to Him at His Holy Table.

I. The continual and general expectation of Jesus.

Man seeks for God everywhere, and at all times, but under sensible forms, that He may appropriate Him to Himself. Therefore, at the very thought of Jesus, at the bare sound of the sacred Name of Him who assumed our humanity for love of us, the heart of every Christian feels an involuntary thrill of secret joy. By God's grace, our souls are ever as it were, in expectation of Christ our true Good. Out of Him