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Meditations for every Day in the Week.

FIRST MEDITATION.

For Sunday.

ON ETERNAL HAPPINESS.

Preparation 1. Having put away all earthly cares and af fections, say,

Come, Holy Ghost, fill the hearts of thy faithful, and kindle in them the fire of thy love.

Prayer.

O God, who hast taught the hearts of the faithful, by the light of thy Holy Spirit, grant us, by the same Spirit, to have a right understanding in all things, and continue to rejoice in lus consolation; through Christ our Lord.

2. Picture to yourself, as well as you are able, the spacious and most beautiful mansions of the blessed, and in them God, with his holy angels, &c., &c.

3. Ask grace of God, that, as far as may be, you may be able to see and appreciate that heavenly glory.

First Point for Consideration.

Consider what the happiness of heaven is. It is the perfect combination of every good, without any admixture of evil, in which the blessed repose securely in the fullest sat isfaction of all their desires. According to Psalm xvi: *} shall be satisfied when thy glory shall appear."

Affections. What have I in heaven, and what do I desire upon earth, besides thee?

Second Point.

Consider how sweet, in that heavenly city (the brightnes of whose walls and gates and streets are described in Apoc

d.), will be the society of Christ, and of the blussed Virgin Mary, and of the Apostles, and the other saints, when all shall be united to God, and God shall be in all; where the highest will embrace the lowest without the least admixture of contempt, and the lowest embrace the highest without any eavy of their superiority.

Affections. "How lovely are thy tabernacles, O Lord ca Hosts My soul longeth and fainteth for the courts of 'he Lord," &c. Ps. lxxxiii.

Third Point.

Consider the differences of glory. 1 Cor. xv. 41: "One is the glory of the sun, another the glory of the moon, and an other the glory of the stars. For star differeth from star in glory. So also is the resurrection of the dead." For the glory of each one shall be greater in proportion as he has in this life done or suffered more for the sake of God.

Affections. And shall I, then, seek to escape from labors and the cross, although the sufferings of this world are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come?

Colloquy. Give thanks to God, that he has prepared a great reward for such slight services as we can render unto him. Reproach thyself for thine own ingratitude and negligence. Commend the whole of this act of devotion to the protection of the blessed Virgin Mary; and say, We fly tc thy patronage, &c.; p. 107.

SECOND MEDITATION.

For Monday.

ON DEATH.

Preparation, same as before for Sunday.

Imagine yourself in your last agony, lying on your bed with a crucifix in one hand and a taper in the other.

First Point.

Consider that "it is appointed to all men once to die" Heb. ix.); but that the day and hour is uncertain. For

"the day of the Lord shall so come as a thief in the night For when they shall say peace and security, then shall sudden destruction come upon them." 1 Thess. v. 3. The wise man truly observes (Eccles. ix.): "As fishes are taken with the hook, and as birds are caught with the snare, so men are taken in the evil time."

Affections. Why, then. do I not hold myself in readiness, every day and every hour, as Christ exhorteth? Matt. xxiv. "Be ye ready, for ye know not at what hour the Son of ma will come."

Second Point.

Consider how great may be at that time your bodily paш: on account of which, you may neither be able to pray, or to repent, or even to remember your sins. For that shall be fulfilled. Ps. xl.: "The 1 hast turned all his couch in his sickness."

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Affections. "Therefore, while we have time let us do good." Gal. vi. 10. But, concerning this present time, it is said (2 Cor. vi. 2): "In an accepted time have I heard thee, and in the day of salvation have I helped thee: behold now is the acceptable time, now is the day of salvation."

Third Point.

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Consider in what great straits will thy soul then be, when it is about to leave the body, and knows not "whether it is worthy of hatred or love;" whether it is to be received into heaven or thrust down into hell. The soul of Harion, who had served Christ for nearly seventy years, trembled at its departure from the body." Why art thou afraid. O my soul, to depart?" said he. Job, also, at the prospect of death, says (x. 20), "Suffer me that I may lament my sor row a little before I go, and return no more to a land that is dark, and covered with the mists of death." How much more cause for fear have you! "But the souls of the just are in the hands of God, and the torments of death shall not touch them." Wis. iii. 1.

Affections. Would that I might so ponder these things, and so arrange my life, that I might be able to say, "To me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." Phil. i 21.

Colloque Accuse yourself to Christ of having neglected meditation on death and promise him to amend.

Preparation, same as for Sunday.

Imagine that you are standing as a debtor before Christ seated on his throne of judgment, and about to give an ac count of your life unto him.

First Point.

Consider how the soul, released from the bonds of the flesh, and forsaken by all, must stand before Christ its Judge, when neither prayers nor tears shall avail, nor any excuse De admitted, and when your guardian angel and the devil shall produce your good and evil deeds, &c. What shall I a sinner, plead?

Affections. And shall I still be so careless? "If we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged." 1 Cor. xi. 31.

Second Point.

Consider that you must give account not only of your grievous sins, but for every idle word. Then, perhaps, shall that writing appear against you (Dan. v. 25): “Mane, Thecel, Phares. Mane: God hath numbered thy kingdom, and bath finished it. Thecel: Thou art weighed in the balance and art found wanting. Phares: Thy kingdom is divided. and is given to the Medes and Persians." Affections. And shall I not fear? "Pierce thou my flesh with thy fear, for I am afraid of thy judgments." Ps. cxviii. E ter not into judgment with thy servant." Ps. (.xlii.

Third Point.

Consider with what fear and trembling each one will awut the sentence of the Judge, which can never be reversed *Come, ye blessed," &c.; or, "Depart, ye wicked," &c.

Affections. And shall I hereafter take any pleasure in sin? I will speak in the bitterness of my soul; I will say unto God, Do not condemn me.

Colloquy. Give thanks to Christ, that he has so long granted, and still grants to thee, the time of grace.

FOURTH MEDITATION.

for Wednesday.

ON HELL.

Preparation, same as before.

Imagine to yourself some vast and horrid cavern, full of serpents and other monsters, and from whence issue frightful howlings, with smoke and flames, &c.

First Point.

Consider what eternal damnation is, viz., a never-ending, unchangeable condition, in which the reprobate are tormented without pity or hope of mercy; with torments so great, that the mind of man cannot understand or imagine them; of which the lake burning with brimstone and fire (Apoc. xiv. 10) is but a part, and, as it were, a figure.

Affections. Truly does Isaias say (xxxiii.)," Which of you can dwell with devouring fire? which of you can dwell with everlasting burnings?" O Lord, punish me here with fire and sword, rather than hereafter and through eternity.

Second Point

Consider well the punishment of the senses, in the eternal torment of the soul as well as of the body. The eyes shall be tormented with spectres; the ears, with horings, weep ing, and blasphemies; the nostrils, with intolerable stench; the tongue and the palate, with liquid pitch and sulphur; the hands, the breast, and all the rest of the body, with unendurable tortures; the memory and intellect shall gnaw the heart with the remembrance and consideration of the neg. lected time of grace; the will must endure the frustration and contradiction of all its desires. As much as she hath

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