For Another's Conversion.

DIVINE and adorable Saviour, Thou who art the Way, the Truth, and the Life, I beseech Thee to have mercy upon N., and bring him [or her] to the knowledge and love of thy truth. Thou, O Lord, knowest all his darkness, his weakness, and his doubts; have pity upon him, O merciful Saviour; let the bright beams of thy eternal truth shine upon his mind; clear away the cloud of error and prejudice from before his eyes, and may he humbly submit to and embrace with his whole heart the teaching of thy Church. Oh! let not the soul for whom I pray be shut out from thy blessed fold. Unite him to thyself in the sacraments of thy love, and grant that, partaking of the blessings of thy grace in this life, he may come at last to the possession of those eternal rewards which Thou hast promised to all those who believe in Thee and who do thy will. Hear this my petition, O merciful Jesus, who, with the Father and the Holy Ghost, livest and reignest ever and ever. Amen.

A Prayer to beg the Divine Direction in the choice of a State of Life.

ALMIGHTY God, whose wise and amiable providence watches over every human event, deign to be my light and my counsel in all my undertakings, particularly in the choice of a state of life. I know that on this important step my sanctification may, in a great measure, depend. I know that I am incapable of discerning what may be best for me; therefore I cast myself into thy arms, beseeching Thee, my God, who hath sent me into the world only to love and serve Thee, to direct, by thy grace, every moment and action of my life to the glorious end of my creation. I renounce most sincerely every other wish than to fulfil thy designs on my soul, whatever they may be, and I beseech Thee to give me the grace, by imbibing the true spirit of a Christian, to qualify myself for any station thy adorable providence may hereafter assign

me.

O my God, whenever it may become my duty to make a choice, do Thou be my light and my counsel, and mercifully deign to "make the way known to me wherein I should walk, for I have lifted up my soul to Thee" (Ps. cxlii. 8). Preserve me from listening to the suggestions of my own self-love, or worldly prudence, in prejudice to thy holy inspirations. "Let thy good Spirit lead me into the right way" (Ps. cxlii. 9), and thy adorable providence place me, not where I may be happiest, according to the world, but in that state in which I shall love and serve Thee most perfectly, and meet with most abundant means for working out my salvation. This is all that I ask, and all that I desire; for what would it avail me to gain the whole world, if, in the end, I were to lose my soul, and be so unfortunate as to prefer temporal advantages and worldly honours to the enjoyment of thy divine presence in a happy eternity?

A Novena to St. Patrick, Apostle of Ireland.

BLESSED St. Patrick, glorious Apostle of Ireland, who didst become a friend and father to me for ages before my birth, hear my prayer, and accept for God the sentiments of gratitude and veneration with which my heart is filled. Through thee I have inherited that faith which is dearer than life. I now make thee the representative of my thanks, and the mediator of my homage to Almighty God. Most holy father and patron of my country, despise not my weakness remember that the cries of little children were the sounds that rose, like a mysterious voice from heaven, and invited thee to come amongst us. Listen, then, to my humble supplication may my prayer ascend to the throne of God, with the praises and blessings which shall ever sanctify thy name and thy memory in the Irish Church. May my hope be animated by the patronage and intercession of our forefathers, who now enjoy eternal bliss, and owe their salvation, under God, to thy courage and charity. Obtain for me grace to love God with my whole heart,

to serve Him with my whole strength, and to persevere in good purposes to the end. O faithful shepherd of the Irish flock, who wouldst have laid down a thousand lives to save one soul, take my soul, and the souls of my countrymen, under thy especial care. Be a father to the Church of Ireland and her faithful people. Grant that all hearts may share the blessed fruits of that Gospel you planted and watered. Grant that, as our ancestors of old had learned, under thy guidance, to unite science with virtue, we, too, may learn, under thy patronage, to consecrate all Christian duty to the glory of God. I commend to thee my native land, which was so dear to thee while on earth. Protect it still, and, above all, direct its chief pastors, particularly those who teach us. Give them grace to walk in thy footsteps, to nurture the flock with the word of life and the bread of salvation, and to lead the heirs of the saints thou hast formed to the possession of that glory which they with you enjoy in the kingdom of the blessed through Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.

. Pray for us, O glorious St. Patrick.

Ry. And obtain for us the intention of this Novena.

An Agnus Dei.

This is a piece of virgin wax, impressed with the image of the Lamb of God upon it, and is blessed once every seven years with balsam and chrism by the Pope. The following prayer may be said by those who wear one.

O MY Lord Jesus Christ, the true Lamb who takest away the sins of the world, by thy mercy, which is infinite, pardon my iniquities, and by thy Sacred Passion preserve me this day from all sin and evil. I carry about me this holy Agnus Dei in thy honour, as a preventative against my own weakness, and as an incentive to the practice of that meekness, humility, and innocence which Thou hast taught us. I offer myself up to Thee as an entire oblation, and in memory of that sacrifice of love which Thou didst offer for me on the cross, and in satisfaction for my sins. Accept this oblation, I beseech Thee, O my God, and may it be acceptable to Thee in the odour of sweetness. Amen.

PREPARATION FOR CONFESSION.

THERE is scarcely any duty of greater importance in religion than to receive the sacrament of Penance with the necessary dispositions.

Every child of humanity has certain well-defined duties to perform, growing out of his relation either with his God, his neighbour, or himself; some greater, some lesser; on some depends his perfection, on some his very salvation; regarding some he may exercise a certain freedom of election, concerning others he can only choose as God Himself directs; the due performance of some will render him not only happy in this life, but everlastingly in the next; while the neglect or bad execution of others would entail an irreparable loss.

Now, amongst those duties which may be termed absolute, essential, all-important, and necessary, must be classed the paramount and peremptory duty of every sinner-desiring to be reconciled with his offended God-to approach with worthy dispositions the sacred tribunal of Penance; or, in plainer terms, to make a good confession. This may be called, for poor fallen nature, the great duty of life.

Though we have seven founts or channels of grace springing up in and flowing through the Catholic Church, they differ much in character or end. They all have some visible sign or figure of invisible grace, so far as each and every one is appointed by Christ our Lord to be a means of conduit for his all-holy grace to flow to the Christian soul.

Penance is as indispensable for those who have fallen into sin after baptism as baptism itself is for such as have never been baptised. It is a second plank after the shipwreck of sin, without which the sinner must inevitably perish. But then it is to be observed that this sacrament must be received with the necessary dispositions. The cleansing of the baptismal robe, and restoring it to its original purity, are not to be effected

without much labour and application. Reason itself dictates that it would be absurd to expect a sacrament to force grace into a soul which, from its own evil dispositions, is often unfitted to receive it. And it would be equally absurd to imagine that the unchangeable justice of God, which could not be satisfied but by the sufferings of Jesus Christ-and which, notwithstanding these sufferings, doth still condemn to eternal torments the unrepenting sinner-should now be appeased by a superficial or outward compliance with this duty, accompanied, perhaps, with insincerity, gross negligence, or a fixed adherence to mortal sin, and therefore destitute of real sorrow, change of heart, and a firm purpose of amendment. The enormity of sin is the same at this day as it ever was; it is as unchangeable as God Himself, because it is essentially a rebellion against Him, a breach of his law, an insult offered to his eternal Majesty, and, consequently, not more remissible at present in the sacrament of Penance than at the earliest period of Christianity, when the severest discipline prevailed.

As it was then, so it is now; for sacraments to operate, there must be due dispositions. Hence there are for every sacrament certain conditions for the due reception of this grace, be it what theologians call the first, that is, the infusion of grace into a soul bereft of it by sin; or, the second, that is, an increase of the grace already there. And as there are different sacraments instituted for different ends, so there are different dispositions required for their worthy reception. So the sacrament of Penance has its necessary dispositions or conditions on the part of the penitent. In a Manual of Prayer it cannot be expected that these be explained. We can only briefly remind the reader that

Before Confession.

A penitent must do three things, viz.:

1. Pray to God for help to make a good confession. 2. Carefully examine his or her conscience to discover in what and how often sin has been committed, whether by thought, word, deed, or omission.

3. Excite himself or herself to sincere contrition, which necessarily includes a resolution not to sin again.

At Confession.

A penitent must also do three things, viz. :

1. Kneeling down, ask the priest's blessing, saying: "Pray, Father, give me your blessing, for I have sinned," and immediately begin the Confiteor:

"I confess to Almighty God, to blessed Mary, ever a