Remember thou art my Father, and have compassion on my distressed soul; clothe it with all virtues and feed it with thy grace, for it belongs to a father to be careful of his child.

As it is in thee I live, sweet Jesus, so it is in thee I desire to die; and both living and dying I will ever profess that thou art good, and that thy mercy endureth for ever.

III. O sweetness of my life, and life of my soul, withdraw my heart and thoughts from all creatures, that they may find no rest but in thee.

My God, how long dost thou permit me to wander from thee? When wilt thou consume in me all that is corrupt and contrary to thy will? Draw me after thee, I beseech thee, that I may walk cheerfully in the way of thy precepts. Make me according to thine own heart, and let my soul be now thy habitation for

ever.

My soul without thee is parched, like earth without water; moisten it, I beseech thee, with the dew of heaven, and grant me thy blessing from the land of the living. Wound my heart with thy love, that it may relish no earthly objects, but entirely depend on thy will.

Hail, dear Redeemer, whom I now desire to adore with the spirit and affection of thy elect; to thy direction I commit all the motions of my soul.

Ah! when will the day of eternity appear, that, liberated from this prison of flesh, I may join with the saints in thy everlasting praise? O sweet light, inflame my heart with the fire of celestial charity, and let its divine flames consume my bowels.

IV. O that I could give thee, dear Lord, as much praise, glory, and honour as is given thee by the angels and blessed spirits in heaven! But as this

in my present state of existence, is impossible, accept at least my desire and good-will. Deliver me from everything that is contrary to thy will, and dispose my soul for thy greater glory.

Into thy hands I surrender, myself, O my Creator, anu aying aside all private wishes, desire to depend on thee, not only as to the whole state of my body and soul, but also as to all the accidents and events thou mayst be pleased to appoint for me, asking nothing more but that thy name may be glorified for

ever.

If it be more for thy honour that I should suffer interior desolation, I accept it from thy hand, convinced that whatever I suffer in my soul for love of thee is for my good.

O my God, how little art thou known, how little loved! Come to me, dear Lord, and if thou nowhere else findest rest, infuse thyself wholly into my soul. May the fire of thy love, O God, ever burn in my heart, and increase to such a flame as may consume not only the sacrifice but the altar also.

Let nothing be my comfort but thou, my Lord Jesus, nor anything afflict me but my sins and whatever is displeasing to thy divine Majesty.

O blessed Jesus! Life eternal! by whom I live, and without whom I die, grant I may be united to thee, that in the embraces of thy holy love and divine will I may rest for ever.

When shall I behold thee, sweet Lord? When shall I appear before thy face? When shall I see thee in the land of the living? Till then I sigh and bewail my banishment, desiring to be dissolved and be with thee.

Reflections after Holy Communion.

Jesus Christ considered as our Father.

ONSIDER God as thy Father, and thyself as his most ungrateful and rebellious child; say with a heart penetrated with compunction, "I will arise, and will go to my father." (Luke xv. 18.)

66

I

With affectionate solicitude, attend, O my Father, to what thy compassionate heart shall suggest to thee in behalf of thy unhappy erring child who so basely abandoned thee. O most tender and most loving of all Fathers! thou art then willing to receive this prodigal child, who has so justly incurred thy heaviest displeasure; to change her affliction into joy, her poverty into wealth, and her misery into happiness. Who can sufficiently admire such an excess of goodness! I detest from my soul my past disorders. I am heartily sorry for them, and beg thy merciful forgiveness. I resolve, with thy grace, rather to die than ever again wilfully offend thee. shall endeavour by my love, respect, and submission, to atone for my ingratitude and rebellion. Sincerely do I desire to return to thee my Father: all my thoughts, affections, desires, and actions, shall serve this day as so many steps towards my return to thee, by means of the zeal and love with which I purpose to perform them. Not only dost thou receive me, O merciful Father, but thou makest a banquet for my entertainment. O signal mark of thy goodness! But clothe me first, I beseech thee, like the prodigal child, with the robe of charity; give me the ring of faith, and the sandals of hope, that I may worthily partake of this heavenly food, no other than thy own precious body and blood, exhibited in a state of

mystic death. Delay not then, O loving Father, to come and meet thy repentant child, that thou mayst put an end to my misery, reform me to thy image, and keep me for ever united to thee.

I

PRAYER.

POSSESS thee, O most amiable Father! in my heart what a prodigy of love and forbearance! But what dost thou demand in return? "My child, give me thy heart!" (Prov. xxiii. 26.) To this tender invitation, my God, what shall I answer? Can it be possible that thou, beholding its misery, should see anything in it worthy of thy acceptance; rather are there not many things in it which should cause thee to reject it? But thou demandest it even with a degree of jealousy, and threatenest me with thy heaviest judgments if I refuse to give it to thee. Receive it, then, my God; I can no longer refuse it; to whom else can I give it? What has it ever found or what can it ever look for out of thee, but emptiness, agitation and bitterness! I recall with grief those days of darkness, when this miserable heart was far removed from thee, straying from the path of rectitude. To what a deplorable state, was it reduced, when, drawn away by the seductions of the world, it yielded to its false joys, and was inebriated with its fatal pleasures: when, criminally attached to the earth, it thought only of accumulating its perishable goods, and seemed to lose sight of those which were eternal when domineered over by its criminal passions, it yielded to their guilty suggestions, erecting an idol within itself, to which it sacrificed its repose, its liberty, its conscience, its religion, and its God. But as a criminal state can be no other than unhappy, with what inquietude was it not agitated?

Seeing its deplorable condition, and yet dreading to leave it; groaning over its chains, and yet wanting courage to burst them asunder; detesting its lot, and yet continuing in its thraldom. My God! thy unbounded mercy towards me during my wanderings adds to my guilt, for thou didst never cease enticing my heart to return to thee, never allowing it to enjoy tranquillity in its disorders; exciting within a secret uneasiness which agitated it, salutary remorses which rent it, continual alarms which mingled bitterness with all its pleasures. And dost thou still desire this miserable heart, and shall I still presume to offer it to thee!

66

My child, give me thy heart."

Behold me then,

my God, prostrate at thy feet; I offer thee my heart, and call on heaven and earth to witness my engagement; I grieve that it should be so little worthy of thy acceptance, for thou knowest that hadst thou treated it according to its deserts, and in the rigour of thy justice, this heart would be actually now driven from thy presence, drinking deep draughts of the chalice of thy dreadful judgments; but though “ thou hast been angry," thou hast had mercy on us." (Ps. lix. 3.) "Blessed is thy name, O God of our Fathers, who, when thou hast been angry, wilt shew mercy, and in the time of tribulation forgivest the sins of them that call upon thee." (Tobias iii. 13.)

ACT OF OFFERING.

ADORABLE Wring in this sacred my sterr of love, possess alone all that I have. Penetrate my heart with a due sense of thy immense bounty and goodness: whilst thou reposest within it, may the precious ointment of true humility perfume thy

DORABLE Spouse ! whom I have had the honour