venly feast with a humble and fervent heart; in fine, I will omit nothing which shall evince my gratitude, and the just requital which I owe Thee for so much love. This, my resolve, O my God! is according to Thy will; Thy grace will be necessary to enable me to fulfil it; and pray of Thee to grant it to me for this end.

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O most blessed Virgin, my only desire is to repair the numberless offences which the adorable heart of your Son receives in the divine Sacrament. But how can I do this? I offer to Him the hearts of all the blessed, of all the angels, and of all the seraphim in Paradise; but this is not sufficient. Permit me, then, dearest Mother, to offer to Him your own pure and immaculate heart, to atone for all the coldness, irreverence, insults, sacrileges, and horrible crimes which are committed against Him in the divine Eucharist, by heretics, by infidels, and by Catholics, especially by those who are consecrated to His service. Obtain that my thoughts and my affections may be all absorbed in Him, and enable me to fulfil with fidelity all I owe to His greater honour and glory.

§ 3.

Petition for a new heart similar to that of Jesus Christ.

Penetrated with the deepest grief at the sight of the sins and transgressions of my life, I entreat of Thee, O Lord, with the royal prophet, to create in me a new heart: Cor mundum crea in me, Deus. Behold, here is my heart; be pleased to render it worthy of being offered to Thee. Give me a new heart, contrite and pierced with the most lively grief for the many and grievous offences which I have committed against Thee; a heart truly and entirely detached from the world, and attached to Thee alone; a new heart, faithful to the attractions of grace, that it may atone for all the impious resistance which it has hitherto made during the time Thou hast been mercifully calling it to repentance; a new heart, loving Thee above all things, and which, animated with the fire of charity, shall be ready to undertake all things, to sacrifice all, and to suffer all, rather than offend and grieve Thy heart again; a new heart, which shall be incessantly employed in rooting up and destroying that fatal self-love which

reigns in me with such power, always opposing itself to Thy love. Give me a new heart, which shall love Thee not only amidst Thy blessings and in the abundance of Thy sweetness, but amidst crosses and desolations, nay, even when utterly deprived of all Thy consolations and delights. Give me a new heart entirely resigned to Thy holy will, and to the dispensations of Thy providence, always immolated as a victim to the glory of Thy holy name. Give me, in short, a heart altogether conformed to Thine own adorable heart, one which shall live and breathe only to love Thee. Take my heart, O my God, and give me Thine, that I may be able to love Thee worthily in this world, whilst I wait for the happiness of loving Thee perfectly in Paradise. Amen.

§ 4.

Ejaculations of different Saints to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

1. O most noble, most sweet, most pious heart of my most faithful lover Jesus Christ, my God and my Lord, draw, absorb my whole heart into Thine, with all its thoughts, all its affections, and all its powers, that henceforward I may love only Thy good pleasure. Amen.

2. O my sweetest Jesus, enclose my heart within Thine own, that Thou mayest be its sole inhabitant, its sole possessor; and thus by the greatness of Thine heart, Thou mayest ennoble and sanctify mine.

3. Oh, the rich treasure of the heart of Jesus! I would willingly give all I have, that so I might gain possession of it; I would that all hearts might attain to adore Thee!

4. O Jesus! grant me the grace to keep my heart always united with Thine.

5. Oh, how good, how lovely is Thy heart, O Jesus! Let me live in it for ever.

6. O sweetest Jesus! transform my poor and wretched heart into Thy divine heart.

7. I trust that nothing shall ever be able to separate me from the heart of Jesus.

8. The heart of Jesus is my portion for ever.

9. To the heart of Jesus be honour and glory for ever.

§ 5.

A little Rosary, consisting of acts of divine love.

1. My God! my only Good, I desire always to love Thee!

2. O my God, how I hate the time when I did not love Thee!

3. How could I live so long without loving Thee!

4. And Thou, my God, how couldst Thou bear so long with me!

5. I thank Thee, my God, for Thy great patience. 6. But now I am resolved to love Thee henceforward for ever.

7. I would rather die than cease to love Thee.

8. Take away my life, O my God, rather than permit that I should cease to love Thee.

9. I ask for nothing but the grace to love Thee.

10. With Thy love I shall be blessed indeed.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, &c.

1. I desire to see Thee, my God, loved by all men. 2. How happy should I be if I might give my life to see Thee loved by all!

3. How blind must those be who do not love Thee! 4. Be pleased, O God, to give them light.

5. How shameful is it for a soul not to love her sovereign Lord!

6. Let me not, O Lord, be amongst those blind ones who do not love Thee.

7. Be Thou, O God, my only joy, my only good!
9. What shall ever separate me from Thy love!
10. Come, O all ye creatures, and love my God.
Glory, &c.

1. O my God, would that I had a thousand hearts to love Thee!

2. Oh, that I had the heart of the highest seraphim to love Thee with!

3. I would that there were more worlds, that they might all love Thee.

4. Blessed should I be if I could love Thee with all the hearts of all creatures.

Y

5. O my God, Thou art infinitely worthy of such love!

6. My heart is too poor and cold to love Thee.

7. Oh, the fatal coldness of our hearts in loving their sovereign Good!

8. Oh, awful blindness of worldlings, not to acknowledge their true lover!

9. Oh, happy inhabitants of Heaven, you know and love your most loving and sovereign Good.

10. Oh, blessed necessity of loving God!

Glory, &c.

1. When, O my God, shall I burn with Thy love! 2. Oh, happy and blessed lot of those who are burning and consuming with Thy love!

3. But since I know not how to love Thee, I rejoice that there are so many others who love Thee with all their hearts.

4. Especially do I rejoice that Thou art loved by all the Angels and the blessed in Heaven.

5. Oh, be pleased to unite my poor heart to all their hearts.

6. I desire most especially to love Thee with that love with which Thou hast been loved by those who loved Thee best.

7. I would I could love Thee as Thou wast loved by Mary Magdalen, St. Catherine, and St. Theresa.

8. With such a love as was felt for Thee by St. Augustin, St. Dominic, St. Francis, St. Ignatius, St. Philip Neri, St. Aloysius Gonzaga.

9. With such a love as that of the Apostles, more particularly St. Peter, St. Paul, and the blessed disciple.

10. With such a love as was felt for Thee by the great Patriarch St. Joseph.

Glory, &c.

1. I desire to love Thee with that love with which the most holy Mary loved Thee whilst on earth.

2. With that love which she felt for Thee, when she conceived Thy divine Son in her virginal womb, when she brought Him forth, when she fed Him at her breast, and when she saw Him die.

3. I would love Thee with that love with which she loves, and will always love Thee, in Heaven.

4. But, O Thou God of infinite goodness, to love Thee even thus is not enough.

5. I desire to love Thee as Thou wast loved by the divine Word, when He became man.

6. As He loved Thee at His birth.

7. As He loved Thee when He expired on the cross. 8. As He loves Thee continually concealed in the Tabernacle of the Altar.

9. As He loves Thee, and will love Thee, for all eternity in Heaven.

10. I would love Thee, in short, with such a love as Thou bearest towards Thyself; but as this is not possible, have pity on me, and grant me to love Thee as much as I am able, and as much as Thou desirest of me. Glory, &c.

Amen.1

ARTICLE III.

DEVOTION TO THE PASSION OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST.

SECTION I.

On the benefits to be derived from meditating on the Passion of our blessed Saviour, and on the manner of performing it.

Meditation on the Passion of Christ has ever been the favourite devotion of all pious souls. It was in this that the Saints found their greatest pleasure and delight; and thence they derived strength in their trials, consolation in their

1 To all the faithful of either sex, who, with penitent hearts, shall devoutly recite this Rosary, his Holiness the Pope Pius VII. has been pleased to grant an indulgence of three hundred days, to be gained once a day. To those who recite it frequently, or who at least recite it ten times in a month, and who, upon any day they may choose in the year, make a devout confession and communion, he grants a plenary indulgence.