Lord, since the gospel calls him only a man just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel (Luke ii. 25), full of years, and weary of life, being supported only by the assurance which the Holy Ghost had given him, of seeing, before death had closed his eyes, the Son of God made man; he went to the temple to wait for the Mother of God on the day appointed for her coming thither. He was in a continual expectation, fixing his eyes on the door, to observe all that should enter, for the Holy Ghost had not yet spoken to his heart; but, when Mary and Joseph entered with the child, without pomp, or any other attendance than that of poverty and simplicity, he was interiorly warned thereof; and what was unknown to the eyes of all, could not be hid from the love which burned in the heart of that hoary old man. When he perceived Jesus, he knew him, and being revived like the phoenix, by the heat of that divine sun, he prepared himself to put off his mortal clothing; and taking that divine infant in his arms, whom he had already in his heart, he began to declare the end of his banishment, and his willingness to die, since he had seen with his own eyes the light and salvation of the world, after which he had sighed so long.

CONTEMPLATION.-I. O Mirror of the eternal truth and divine goodness! O Son of the living God! O Jesus, my Master and Saviour! open my eyes, that I may seek thee with the blessed Simeon; that I may see thee, know thee, and embrace thee; and that I may repose in thee as he did. Since thou lovest humility so much, humble my pride; since thou hast chosen poverty, pluck from my heart the love of riches; and since thou vouchsafedst to to submit thyself to the law of Moses, grant that I may always be perfectly subject to thine. Thou knowest my weakness and sloth, and it is for that reason thou requirest so little of me; but, thy love, O Lord! treats thee not thus; it dispenses thee from nothing, not even from what appears the most contrary to thy infinite Majesty. Teach me, O divine Master! that law of love; love yields not to the fear of any difficulties, and when it is pure and true, it finds thee so great, O my God! and so worthy of being served, that its most violent desire is to be consumed in thy service. Every law is sweet to love, and every burden light, and it esteems itself happy, when it can sacrifice to thy greatness whatever is greatest in the world.

But, O Lord! when will the time come when thy love shall render me humble, meek, poor, and disengaged? When shall I begin to love contempt, to relish my own abjection, and to hate myself; and when, crucified to body and soul, shall I be thine as to everything that I am? Thy most blessed mother is rich by the possesion of thee alone; St. Joseph, content with serving thee, loves his poverty; the holy Simeon desires nothing but thee alone;

and I, O Lord! who believe all this, according to the testimony of thy word, and am even sensible of the truth of it, I separate myself from thee.

II. But how can I see my going astray, O divine light! if thou enlighten me not? If thou wouldst have children offered to thee before they arrive at the use of reason, so that when they know themselves they may understand that they are already thine; how can I desire, O my God! that thou shouldst suffer a miserable creature, to whom thou hast given reason and knowledge of what thou art, not to be thine, and to refuse to obey thee? Remedy this disorder, O Lord! by thy mercy. Thou lovest me to heal me, may I hate myself to be healed. Make me feel and deplore the loss of the years of my infancy, during which I neither knew nor loved thee. For though I was not in a condition of offending thee, it is always true that thou lovest me, and that I corresponded not to thy love. May I still have a greater regret for the first-fruits of my reason and will, which I gave thee not, my negligence in thy service, the forgetfulness of thy benefits and of thyself, the sins I have committed, and the irregular inclinations which I have followed, from the time I was capable of offending thee to this present, when I confess in thy presence my shame and misery. But what would it be, O my Saviour! if I were to describe my whole life before thee? If I should reckon the days, months, and years I have spent in sin, and lived without thee, O thou life of my soul !

Here I will cry out with my whole strength, that thou mayest hear me; I will call upon thee until thou answerest me; and will not cease weeping until thou hast pardoned me. I will follow thee everywhere, O sweet Jesus! I will keep myself close by thee; I will offer myself with thee, by thee, and in thee, to the eternal Father, that I may be sheltered from his justice under the shadow of thy wings. The lambs offered in sacrifice returned not again to those that offered them, but were separated from them for ever; I will not do so by thee, I will offer thee for me, O divine Lamb! but I will be either immolated with thee, or I will bring thee back with me; for I can neither in death nor life be separated from thee.

III. O Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort! (2 Cor. i. 3). I offer thee thy only Son, cast thy eyes upon him, that thou mayest pardon me, and receive me into thy favour for his sake. Have regard to that divine infant, that meek and humble lamb, who offers himself to thee for the love of me. He speaks not yet, O Lord! but his heart speaks to thee in my behalf; he presents himself to thee to be the victim of all sinners, and none are excluded from the merit of his sacrifice: he fulfils the law, and pays homage to thee for all. Thou seest, O my God! the fire with which he burns, the pardon which he begs for men, and the graces he merits for them. I offer

to thee with him all that I am, and all I have; my poverty, miseries, desires and life, with whatever it contains, either painful or agreeable; my body with all its senses; my soul with all its powers, and everything that can be within me good or evil; the good, that it may increase by thy grace; and the evil, that it may be destroyed by thy mercy.

Thy well-beloved Son was pleased to begin his life by a solemn protestation of obedience, and to undertake nothing without first having received thy paternal benediction. Permit me, O my God! to beg it of thee, how unworthy soever I am to receive it, and to consecrate myself from this moment to thy service during the remainder of my life. Give me that spirit which discovered to the Blessed Virgin the counsels of thy wisdom, which conducted the holy Simeon into the temple, and which made him know his Saviour: create a clean heart in me, O God! and renew a right spirit in my bowels (Psalm 1. 11), which may conduct me to thee. I know how little I deserve this favour; but I offer thee, for obtaining it, the infinite merits of that spotless Lamb: receive me through him into the number of thy servants; extend upon me the love thou hast for him, and grant me the grace of persevering in thy service unto death.

IV. Is it possible, O Lord! that thou couldst conceal what thou art in the midst of Jerusalem, in the temple? Why is it that all creatures acknowledge thee not, nor come to meet thee with all the marks of joy they are capable of? The sea and the Jordan fled before the Israelites when thou broughtest them out of Egypt; the mountains and little hills leaped for joy, and the rocks were changed into fountains of living waters, because they were sensible of thee, O Lord! in the midst of thy people: the most insensible beings were moved at the passage of the ark of the covenant; and yet, all those wonders were only the figure of those things, whose truth and substance are contained in thee. On this day thou thyself passest through that people, and nobody knows thee but the blessed Simeon and Anna the prophetess. Immortal thanks be given to thee, O my God! for the privileges thou grantest to the humble and to those that love thee. When thou speakest in the temple amongst the doctors of the law, when thou workest miracles in the sight of all Judea, thou art not known; and here, being a child, poor, speechless, without pomp, and carried in the arms of thy mother, thou canst not hide thyself from those that love thee: they even suffer their banishment only out of the desire of seeing thee, and life seems supportable to them only in hopes of finishing it by embracing thee.

V. O my salvation and riches! O life whereby I live, and without which I die! why makest thou a heart which loves thee languish thus? Where art thou, O my sovereign good! O eternal repose

of my soul! thou wilt not allow man to behold thee without dying. Well, O Lord! let me die, that I may behold thee. Why hidest thou from me the beauty of thy countenance? Let my soul feel thee, that all my interior senses, charmed with thy attractions, may abhor everything that is not thee; and that my heart may continually sigh after thee, O my God; how happy am I, when I desire, love and please thee; and when the desire of beholding thee gives me a disgust of all creatures! For then I discover thee in

what state soever thou appearest.

When thou art an infant I am sensible of thy greatness; when thou art poor I admire thy riches; and even when thou art crucified, I am charmed with thy beauty. But when my heart departs from thy love, I no longer perceive thee, not even in the wonders thou workest, nor in the splendour of thy majesty. Unite me to thee, O my God! turn away my eyes from vanity, and grant that they may only be fixed on the contemplation of thy eternal truth; discover to this miserable heart that thou art its salvation, and the centre of repose; let me find no joy but in thee alone, who art my true friend, and all the glory of my soul.

Take from me the relish of all earthly things, or give me the knowledge of myself, that I may not suffer myself to be seduced by the false goods of this world, or by my own miseries; but that everything within me may sigh after thee. Come O Lord! and delay not thy coming; for all the good things which I desire will come with thee for me. Come, O sweet Jesus! into this sinful soul, break the bands of its slavery, give it the freedom of thy children, that it may be tied to nothing, but be wholly thine; that it may follow, embrace and possess thee; and that in possessing thee it may sing with the holy old man this canticle of joy.

AN EXPLANATION OF THE SONG OF SIMEON.

"Now thou dost dismiss thy servant, O Lord! according to thy word, in peace."-Luke ii. 29

I love thee, O divine Jesus! and yet am obliged to live at a distance from thee. I spend my life in a continual pain, because I behold thee not, and the desire of seeing thee renders all the sweets of the earth insipid to me; those are false goods, which have no solidity in them, and pass away in a moment: nevertheless I complain of their duration, because they separate me too long from my sovereign good. The body enjoys its conveniences, the senses taste their pleasures, and when they think themselves satisfied, they tell me they have what they desire. But my soul, to whom thou alone art sufficient, O my God! and which esteems everything else as nothing, continues to sigh after thee with a

profound sadness; and this sadness will not end till thou thyself comest to comfort me, who art my true joy.

Deliver me, O Lord! from this obscure prison. Behold the happy moment, now is the hour I have so long desired. I adore thee, O my deliverer and my only happiness! I adore thee, O thou life of my soul! thou hast heard at last the voice of him that loves thee; and since I have found peace, why should I live any longer in the danger of losing it? No, O Lord! I will live no longer, I renounce the earth, since I possess the treasure of heaven; it is time to break my chains, and to let me depart in peace from the prison of this body.

II. Because my eyes have seen thy salvation.

My soul enlightened with that divine light, fortified by thy presence, and penetrated with the love of its saviour, has nothing more to desire than to see thee clearly, O my God! to love thee constantly, and to possess thee out of its prison without fear of losing thee. For, although my spirit being far distant from thee, and enclosed within this earthly body, is deprived of thy sight, yet it knows that thou alone art its salvation; and, charmed with thy eternal beauty, it has nothing but disgust for all things else. Its only desire is to see him that heals it, satiates it, fills it with joy, and inflames it. Thou art come upon earth only to kindle in all hearts the fire of thy love.

III. Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people.

The eternal Father has given thee to men, that the just and sinners, the Jews and Gentiles, and all people without distinction should regard thee as their model, master, and light, their glory, treasure, and happiness. And because men could not behold thee, thou becamest man, that we might possess thee in such a manner as agrees with our weakness, and have before our eyes, in our whole conduct, him who is the object of our love, and the end of our desires.

IV. A light to enlighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people of Israel.

The most obscure darkness is dispelled before thee, O Lord! all our errors are discovered, and we see by the favour of thy light that divine beauty wherewith our minds are charmed. The people of Israel find in thee the accomplishment of those great promises which were made to them, and receive by thee the crown of their glory. All souls by the brightness of thy countenance become brilliant, rich, full of thee, and of thy blessings. Illuminate me, O my light! heal me, 0 my salvation! exalt me, 0 my glory!

and satisfy me, O my felicity! Let my faith behold thee, my hope expect thee, my love embrace thee, and my soul possess thee here below as much as it is capable of it, waiting till it shall be able to behold thee clearly in the inseparable union, and eternal repose of the heavenly country.