munion. A confession, which they intend should include all mortal sin, and a few vocal prayers, comprise the whole of their preparation for the most solemn of all duties. The God of all sanctity is then introduced into a soul defiled with innumerable stains. The God of infinite love enters a heart, which, as he himself declares, he rejects and abominates, because it is tepid, and neither hot nor cold. Such Communions, as may be expected, are fruitless, or rather they are too often fruitful in great evils, and are almost a certain road to sacrilege. O how much should they be dreaded!

III. Point.-Consider, thirdly, that if an unworthy Communion is the most dreadful of all misfortunes, and a tepid or negligent Communion the greatest of all dangers; so also is a worthy Communion the most precious and glorious advantage that a creature can enjoy. Next to the clear view and full possession of God in heaven, there can be no happiness so great as that of communicating. If our faith were lively, we should be so convinced of this truth, that the prospect of a communion would fill us with transports of joy : -we would long for the happy day which was to unite us to Jesus Christ, and be so completely occupied with the expectation of such a blessing, as to become almost insensible to all other enjoyments. To produce those sentiments in your heart, you need but reflect on a few of the advantages of a good Communion. Consider, that this most holy Sacrament increases and preserves grace, which is the life of the soul; it enlightens the mind with the brightest light, inflames the heart with the sacred fire of charity; it points out and makes us love our duties; it strengthens us to fulfil them; it moderates the violence of passion, and it penetrates the soul with such sweet and holy peace, as must he felt to be understood. To say all in one word, a worthy Communion unites us so intimately to God, and procures for us such an abundant infusion of his gifts and graces, as caused a fa

tner of the Church to say, that "a single Communion would suffice to make a saint." Consider these truths seriously. Reflect with holy transport on the glorv and happiness within your reach. Convinced of the infinite excellence of the adorable Sacrament which you are preparing to receive, banish all other cares, that you may devoutly dispose yourself for that wonderful union with God, which was never granted to angels. But as this work is far beyond your power, beg earnestly of that God of love, whom you are about to receive, to give you such ardent desires of enjoying the happiness of worthy communion, as will urge you to remove every obstacle to so great a blessing. O my good God! if I really felt how delightful it is to be united to thee, how soon would I despise every other pleasure, and sigh after thee alone for whom alone I was created. Thou knowest that I desire at least to receive thee worthily; deign then to penetrate my soul with respect and love, that I may so fervently prepare for thy heavenly visit, as never to find death in the fountain of life.

SECOND DAY.

The Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ applied to the Holy Communion.

1. Point.-CONSIDER, first, that when Jesus Christ instituted at his last Supper the adorable Sacrament of his Body and Blood, he commanded his Apostles, and in their persons all creatures, to call to mind his Passion and Death as often as they communicated. Such a command ought not to have been necessary; gratitude for the benefit of redemption-love for the God who died for us-compassion for his excessive sufferings-contrition for the share we had in occasioning them, are all motives which should make the sufferings of Christ a subject familiar to our thoughts, and impress on the aird and heart of every

Christian a lively image of Jesus crucified. But our divine Redeemer well knew the frailty and ingrati tude of man; he knew, that the greater number would seldom, if ever, call to mind his sufferings, and therefore he left them not only a precious and striking memorial of his Passion in the holy Eucharist, but also a command to think on him, on his infinite love and suffering, in receiving his adorable Body. Do this in remembrance of me. Luke xxii. 19. Endeavour now to comply most fervently with this command of your divine Redeemer. Place yourself in spirit at the foot of the cross, and consider how much it cost your Redeemer to purchase for you the happiness of communicating. Far from being admitted to the honour and advantage of sacramental union with God, you would have been condemned to eternal separation from him, if Jesus had not died to save you. Your approaching happiness is then the purchase of your Redeemer's sufferings-the adorable body you are going to receive as your spiritual food, is the same which was exposed to insult, contempt, and misery, during three and thirty years; scourged at a pillar, crowned with thorns, and at length ignominiously nailed to the cross. Ah! if those excessive torments had made a deep impression on our hearts, how differently should we feel disposed in approaching that adorable sacrament, wherein the memory of his passion is renewed! Beg of Jesus himself, with the greatest earnestness, to give you the dispositions he requires. O my crucified Saviour! thou didst suffer such torments for my salvation, as would separately have caused thy death, if a miracle did not preserve thy life to endure still more. Why have I been so ungrateful as to forget all thou hast done for my sinful soul? Vouchsafe, O divine Jesus! to enter my heart, notwithstanding its unworthiness; that I may not only learn to die to myself, by reflecting on thy sufferings, but also live to thee, by the efficacy of thy adorable body.

II. Point.-Consider your divine Saviour pros trate on the earth, in the Garden of Gethsemani, fainting with grief, and exhausted with a bloody sweat, occasioned by excessive interior anguish, a the view of the sins of all mankind; particularly the ingratitude of those who are loaded with his mercies the pride and vanity of those who are early instructed in the divine truths of his holy gospel-the tepidity. sloth, and indifference of those from whom he has a right to expect the most ardent love ;-in a word, the foresight he had of the abuse of his graces, and the little fruit that many, even among his most favoured servants, would draw from his sacred passion and death. This was truly the chalice which Jesus dreaded to drink, and which made his sacred heart sorrowful even unto death, as we may easily con ceive by our own experience, since we feel that an unkind, ungrateful action of a friend, would grieve us more than many injuries heaped on us by an enemy. Consider now, that among all the benefits Jesus Christ bestowed on the world, none is so precious, or so peculiarly the fruit of his sacred passion, as the holy Eucharist; consequently, those who draw little or no profit from that fountain of grace, and who feel little love, gratitude, and respect for so astonishing a mark of God's tenderness, are certainly those who should reproach themselves with having contributed most to the interior sufferings of Jesus Christ. Reflect seriously on yourself, and beg of God to enlighten your mind, that you may see whether you be not of this number. You cannot doubt of your being among those whom he has most loved and favoured;-early instruction, particular graces, spiritual assistance, and a thousand other marks of his tenderness, prove to you that Jesus thought of you in the height of his sufferings, and destined for you a particular share in the fruits and merits of his sacred passion. What use have you made of those special blessings? Have you been

more grateful, from having been more favoured ? Has the knowledge of your duty caused you to discharge it better? What profit have you drawn from your communions? Where are the faults you have corrected, or the virtues you have acquired, after so many times receiving the Almighty himself? Ask your own conscience these questions; it is better you should do so now, than defer so necessary an examination to that tribunal of justice where we must all appear, to account for that precious blood, which our sins and his infinite love caused Jesus to shed in the course of his sacred Passion.

III. Point.-Consider, seriously, that after Jesus had been in an agony three hours; after he had proved the efficacy of his sacred Blood, by the wonderful conversion of a great criminal, and expressed his ardent thirst for the conversion of all men, he expired. Then the earth shook to its centre; from which you should learn how much cause sinners have to dread the rigorous justice of God, who did not spare his only begotten Son. The rocks were rent, to show you that your heart should be broken with sorrow at the recollection of your Redeemer's sufferings, even though it were as cold and as hard as marble. The opening of the sepulchres, and resurrection of the dead, admonish you, that if you would participate in the fruit of our Redeemer's Passion and Death by a worthy Communion, you must open the sepulchre of your conscience, and cast out all the dead works of iniquity by a candid and contrite confession. Reflect particularly, that the sepulchre in which Jesus would have his most precious body laid, was new, no person having been laid there before; 'St. John xix.) therefore, the soul which prepares to become the repository of the same precious body, should be renovated by contrition, and a firm resolution of leading a new life, and banish all that could disturb the reign of Jesus Christ in her heart. Ars these your dispositions? Have the foregoing re