he did for the first man, and have remained in it after he had lothed himself with our humanity; he rather chose to conceal himself in the holy sacrament of the Eucharist, that he might become our nourishment, and unite himself to our hearts in the most intimate manner that could be imagined.

He thereby accomplished in an admirable sense these words of the Apostle St. Paul (Rom. v. 20), where sin abounded, grace did abound more; for grace now reigns where sin did reign, and Christ dwells in those hearts which sin had become master of. Man was created not to be miserable, but to be happy; and for that reason God gave him a paradise to abide in. But though man lost that place of delights through his sin, God did not change his resolution with respect to him; he gave him a new paradise in giving him the Lamb of God, who is, as St. John says (Rev. xxi. 23), the lamp of the holy city, and the happiness of the heavenly country. It is he who is the source of all those good things wherewith that happy abode is filled, and he makes a paradise wherever he is; he was pleased also to make himself one in our hearts, by the love he bore us, that those who love him may possess him, and find in his possession a continual paradise by penance and love, should they happen to lose him by sin. In this paradise we are fed with the fruit of life, warmed with the fire of divine love, and honoured with heavenly visits.

Whoever, therefore, shall behold, with enlightened eyes and a pure heart, the inventions of the divine love, may very well say with David (Psalm lxxxiii. 2), My heart and my flesh have rejoiced in the living God. My flesh, because it sees itself not only united to the Divine Word, but also destined to receive him within its bowels; and my heart, because it finds itself capable of possessing him on earth, who is the delight of heaven, with a sweet confidence of possessing him also for all eternity.

CONTEMPLATION.-Who shall ever be able, O my God! to comprehend the designs of thy eternal wisdom? I adore thee to the utmost of my power; and I wish I could do it equal to the deserts of those wonderful works which thy infinite love caused thee to perform for my salvation. I desire to love thee with my whole heart, to serve thee with all my strength, and to be wholly thine. But what I offer thee is nothing in comparison to those infinite mercies, which thou hast first bestowed on me. Thou comest, O Son of the living God! from the bosom of thy Father, where thou art the eternal Word, God of God, equal to him in divinity, in majesty, in power, in greatness, in wisdom, in glory, and in eternity of happiness. Thou comest to clothe thyself with our nature, and to participate in our sufferings. But there is still, O my God! less reason to be seized with astonishment, than to adore and love the immense riches of that divine goodness, which

Thou

reduced thee to such a profound humiliation for my sake. wast very glad, O my Lord and my God! to suffer even what others suffer not. It is thy mercy which proportions all our crosses. So thou wast a father full of goodness and meekness towards us, and thou hadst severity only towards thyself.

II. Thou must needs have loved sufferings well, O my Saviour! since thou inventest new ones, which thou alone art capable of enduring. Thou wilt surpass all men in all things, in loving without bounds, in humbling thyself beyond measure, in suffering without sparing thyself, and in showing my soul that it ought to have no other friend, no other father, and no other refuge but thee. Whence comes it, then, O my God! that I love not thee with my whole heart? What can I do for thee that is not infinitely below what I owe thee? Thou keepest no bounds in thy sufferings, because thy love is the measure of them. But thou observest not the same method in those thou sendest me; and thy goodness always proportions them to my weakness. Notwithstanding, O my God! I complain thereof, I refuse the cup which thou presentest me and I remove it as far from me as possible. O divine Jesus! O eternal beauty! how little do I love thee, and how much ought I to love thee! Change into strength and a desire of suffering for thee, the weakness and cowardice of my flesh; teach me to hate it and since thou didst persecute thyself even unto the death of the cross, destroy in me the love I have for that flesh of sin which ruins me; and render it, O Lord! as subject as it ought to be to the motions of thy spirit.

III. But why gavest thou, O my Saviour! thou who art the glory of heaven, and the joy of the blessed-to our first parent, at his creation, a place of delights, exempt from all those miseries which we suffer? And why didst thou choose for thyself, who art our restorer and true father, only a place full of inconvenience and miseries? O infinite wisdom! O the physician and remedy of my wounds! how clearly hast thou shown in the creation of the first man, that thou takest no pleasure in seeing us suffer; and that thy design was that we should be happy, without labour, or sorrow, in a paradise of delights, in order to pass from thence to the possession of the eternal kingdom. But the weakness of our nature could not bear so great happiness, without forgetting itself; and since Adam lost it in the midst of pleasures, his children must endeavour to recover it by sufferings.

It is, therefore, out of necessity and the desire of saving us, that thou hast put us into this school of labours and tears, that we may learn therein the humility and obedience which we owe thee: and to express thy love to us thou comest thyself to seek us in our wanderings, to comfort us in our sufferings, and to share them with But this division thou makest is unequal: for if I receive one

us.

stroke from thy paternal hand, thou hast received a thousand for me; and if thou layest any burthen upon me, thou bearest me and it upon thy shoulders. So that thy happiness and delight seem to be in comforting me, in instructing, healing, and accompanying me, and in enriching me with thy blessings.

IV. O Infinite Merey! I blush with confusion in thy presence, when I consider myself, and compare myself with thee! Unhappy child of Adam, I am banished out of paradise, and I seek a new one upon earth, although it be an abode of tears and miseries. I am attached to earthly things, so as to ruin myself on their account; they carry away my thoughts, senses, and desires, as if they were true and eternal goods. In order to possess them I throw myself headlong into death, and I abandon thee, O thou Life of my soul! Thou wouldst not pass one single moment without suffering, and I would spend my whole life in pleasure and delight. I make to myself gods of thy creatures by sacrificing a heart to them which I owe to thee alone, but which I am miserable enough to refuse thee; the excess of my folly goes even so far as to make me love thy enemies, and render myself so much a slave to sin, as to commit it every day against thee. O unhappy hours! O time employed in iniquity and abomination! Thou knowest them, O Lord! and I blush to mention them. However I will confess them before thee in the bitterness of my soul. Blot them out, O my God! by thy mercy; pluck from my heart the love of sin and the world, and repair the ruins of my interior man.

V. O that I had never offended thee! Grant me the grace that all worldly pleasures may be changed, with regard to me, into gall and vinegar; that my whole delight may be in being humbled and in suffering with thee, O my amiable Jesus! that I may no longer have a relish of anything but thee, and that I may be sensible only of thy love. How like art thou in all things to thyself, O thou venerable friend of my soul! Always the most beautiful amongst the children of men; beautiful in the beginning, in the continuation, and in the end of thy life; always thyself; ever rich in mercy and love. Is it possible that thou shouldst vouchsafe to remain with me, to enter into my body, and much more still into the interior of my soul? O how true it is, O Lord! that thy delights are to be with the children of men!—Prov. viii. 31. What findest thou in me to make thee desire so earnestly to be with me? Thou bringest thy riches with thee; what more canst thou find in a poor creature who is nothing but misery and sin, that thou art not content with being alone, but desirest to live with me? Thou art thyself a paradise of infinite delights! What advantage dost thou pretend to find in my indigence? And how can it be that I should share the recollection of him who is the eternal felicity of the blessed! Why have I not, O Lord! a sufficiency of thy light to comprehend

thy wonders, and enough of thy love to seek thee without intermission? Ah! I plainly see why thou desirest to be with me; it is because thou art the centre of my happiness; and being in thee, I shall be in a delicious paradise, where I shall taste the fruit of life, wisdom, and love, by the communication thou wilt make to my soul of thyself, of thy riches, and of the blessings of thy sweet

ness.

VI. Grant me the grace, O my God and Sovereign Good! to find more joy in thee than in all creatures, more than in health and beauty, more than in glory and honour, more than in power and riches, more than in knowledge and friendship, more than in reputation and praises, and more, in fine, than in all things thou canst give me, whether visible or invisible; for thou art infinitely more amiable than all thy blessings; thou alone art most high, most powerful, most beautiful, and most noble. Thou art a true paradise, and paradise without thee would be a banishment. My heart can find a perfect peace in nothing but in thee alone. Thou knowest it, O Lord! and therefore thou hast invented such admirable means of abiding in me, that I might abide in thee; thou seekest me when I forget thee; thou comest to me when I fly from thee; and threaten me with death when I depart from thee. O Jesus, most pure spouse of my soul! when shall I be delivered from myself, that I may dwell in thee? When will the happy moment come, when, wholly taken up with thy perfections, I shall taste how sweet thou art? When shall I give myself entirely to thee, that being wholly possessed with thy love, I may no longer feel anything of myself? How many things are there still wherewith I am concerned, which remove me from thee, which disturb me, afflict me, and occasion me a thousand obscurities and distractions, which lead me towards creatures, and hinder me from entering into and possessing thee? Behold me in thy presence, O Jesus! who art the splendour of glory, and the consolation of my pilgrimage; but I know not what to say to thee, the voice of my poverty will plead better for me than my own, and the abyss of my miseries will bring into my heart the abyss of thy mercies. Hear that voice,

O my God! and make haste to come to thy poor and unworthy servant, that thou mayest comfort him by thy presence; thou art my joy and without thee I cannot be content; I am miserable, and full of blindness and sin, and I shall be always so till thou hast discovered thy countenance to me, and till I am delivered thereby from myself. Let others seek what they will-for my part nothing pleases nor satisfies me but thee alone, O thou love of my soul! Come then, and since thou desirest to be with me, behold me here ready to receive thee, open my heart, O amiable Jesus! say to it these words of life, I am thy salvation, and kindle it at the same time with the fire of thy love.-Psalm xxxiv. 3.

most holy Mother of God! Virgin most pure, who deserved to contain that heavenly treasure for the space of nine months; you did not possess it for yourself alone; you kept it, you nourished it, and it was entrusted to you for me; let me then have a share of it, O Mother of mercy! Give me that same Lord, and may I lose everything that separates me from him and his love; since he vouchsafes to abide in us, and abhors nothing but sin, obtain for us that purity which may render me capable of possessing him. And ye blessed spirits! over whom that amiable Saviour reigns at present without control, drop down upon me a spark of that love wherewith you are inflamed, that it may burn in my soul, till I share with you that happiness which you enjoy. Amen.

THIRD SUFFERing of Christ.-The violence he did his love, by restricting its action.

J. Christ suffered also another pain in the womb of his most blessed mother, which is a natural consequence of that zeal wherewith he was consumed, for his father's glory. This pain was the extreme violence he then did his love, by delaying to labour in the work for which he came. Love is of the nature of fire; it is the most lively of all the motions of the heart, as fire is the most active of all the elements; and God is called in the holy scripture, a consuming fire (Deut. iv. 24), because of the surprising works of his love, which would appear unworthy of his majesty if they did not proceed from an infinite goodness: for all those names which show his power and greatness, as that of strong, invincible, omnipotent, violent, inflamed and transforming, perfectly agree with the divine love, and express the property of that eternal fire, which is the principle of those wonders which God performs; and as fire never makes its activity more sensible, than when it falls upon a well prepared matter, so that fire with which love inflames the heart of God is incomprehensible to every created understanding. It was with that fire that the incarnate Word burned in the womb of his blessed mother, in waiting the course of nature for his coming into the world with a desire of accomplishing his work, and ccnstrained to remain hidden and unknown, not only for several months, but for many years, till the moment appointed in the Eternal Council.

II. Therefore that love, finding no issue, and being violently detained by Christ, acted upon his heart, devoured and consumed it. If hope delayed aflicts the soul, according to the expression of the holy Scripture (Prov. xiii. 12), and if the more a thing is desired and esteemed the more sensible is the delay of it, what was then the pain of that blessed soul, in seeing itself obliged to wait for the increase of its body to accomplish its work, that is to say, for heaping blessings upon us, and for being oppressed with all