For us, more docile, when the bell announces the ¡ office of praise, let us imagine we hear the voices of angels who chant in heaven: "Christ is fastened to the cross, pierced by five wounds; come and adore Him together." Vespers are composed of five psalms, in memory of Our Saviour's wounds. To sing them we should place ourselves in thought at the foot of the cross; our heart will find Mary there, with the beloved disciple, and the holy women.

We will recite the first psalm in the wound of the right foot of Jesus Christ; the second in the wound of the left foot; the third and fourth in the wounds of the right and left hands; the fifth in that of the side. We read in the life of St. Francis Xavier an incident that shows us that we should love this practice. During a frightful tempest the vessel on which he was sailing was about to be submerged. Sailors, soldiers, and passengers, crowding together in confusion, waited but for death. Then St. Francis, mounting the deck, raised bis eyes and hands to heaven. "Jesus," he cried, Jesus, love of my soul, help us. I ask Thee by the five wounds which Thou hast received for us on the cross." And instantly the vessel, which already was sinking, rose up of itself, and gained the top of the waves. Our soul is perhaps like this ship; the tempest roars in heavens black with clouds; the waves of passion threaten to engulf it. Let us fly to the five wounds of Our Saviour; calm will reign at once in our soul.

The presence of angels will also arouse our fervor. "At the signal for the divine office," says St. Bernard, "a multitude of cherubim and archangels descend to our temples. They hasten eagerly to join us; they

mingle in our ranks to praise God with us, and animate our chants by inspiring us with their burning fervor." Our angel guardian must not be forgotten. See him at our side; what is he doing?

The chronicles of Citeaux will tell us. During the office, St. Bernard saw beside each religious an angel. As soon as a verse of a psalm was chanted, he wrote in a book with a golden pen. And the saint noticed that the letters sometimes shone like gold, sometimes like silver, sometimes seemed black, and again pale like water. And sometimes even the pen made no mark. St. Bernard, astonished, asked God to explain to him the meaning of this mysterious vision. The Lord told him that this angel was the guardian angel of each religious. The difference in colors indicated the fervor with which each one sung the praises of God. If we would have our good angel write in golden letters in that book where our works are recorded, let us practise the pious method of hearing Vespers of which we have spoken.

The Venerable de Bérulle, founder of the Oratory in France, has written a pious tract on the manner of reciting the office. The following lines which we copy from him will enkindle the fervor of many souls:

"Think that you have to praise God for an infinite number of creatures who are incapable or unworthy to do so. Some are dumb, without voice or soul; they borrow your mind and lips to praise the Creator.

"Others are as if in the state of childhood and in their minority; they look to your height in grace to render homage through you to their sovereign Lord. Others, deprived by their own fault of the grace offered

to them, are cursed by God, and unfit to praise Him.

"Double and triple blessing then is given you to praise God for them and for yourself. From this point of view, and with this thought, regard yourself as delegated by all creatures to praise the Lord of all, and pay Him their common tribute. You, then, praise the Lord for all-for the heavens and the earth, the creatures animate and inanimate; for Christians and infidels; for Catholics and heretics; for the blessed and reprobate; for hell itself, though it shudders and resists with its perverse will. You are placed between heaven and hell. Hell is under your feet, and God grant that you have as much fervor to praise the Divine Majesty as the repro bate have obstinacy in cursing it. Heaven is open

above your head, and God grant that you have as great elevation of mind and piety as heaven has of rest, of glory, of joy in the possession of its Lord!"

May the Spirit of God, by the unction of His grace, engrave these noble thoughts in our souls, and may they be always present at the beginning of the divine office! Let the empty places around us excite our devotion we will love for those that love not, pray for those who pray not, praise for those who praise not.

CHAPTER III.-THE PSALMS OF VESPERS

1. PRELIMINARIES OF THE OFFICE.

Pater and Ave Maria.-The Lord's Prayer, recited before Vespers and all the other canonical hours, is the abridgment of all that we shall ask of God during the office.

All the intentions which we can have are there

recalled: first, the sanctification of God's name, the coming of His reign in our hearts, the accomplishing of His will; then, the granting of all our needs, the pardon of all our faults, victory over temptation, deliverance from all dangers. What graces to ask! What necessities to satisfy! And consequently what motives to pray, and to pray well! The Ave Maria, recited before the office, is a souvenir of the fervor of our fathers. The public office was accompanied by the office of the Blessed Virgin; some religious orders still recite it thus. The reason for this is wonderfully beautiful.

The different parts of the office celebrate the mysteries of our redemption; and to Mary, called by the doctors of the Church the coredeemer of the world. for the active part she bore in the work, a testimony of gratitude is due. The recitation of the Ave Maria before the canonical hours is the only vestige of this custom remaining to us. The intention of the Church in retaining this prayer has doubtless been to hold Mary up to us as our model, according to the words of St. Ambrose: “May the spirit of Mary reign in each one of us to praise God worthily." (In Luc. ii. 26.)

At the Ave Maria our thoughts should be borne to Calvary, and we will ask Mary, standing at the foot of the cross, for some of the feelings that filled her heart. These prayers are said in a low voice. It is time to ask ourselves why the Pater is said aloud in the Mass, when in the other offices it is otherwise. For the solution of this difficulty we must go back to the first centuries. The Lord's Prayer and the Creed, considered as the watchwords of Christians, were not taught to cate

chumens until a little while before their baptism. Re spect forbade saying these prayers aloud in those assemblies where pagans and catechumens might be present. These being allowed to take part in the offices of the day and night, care was taken to say these prayers secretly. It was not the same case with the Mass. The Church did not admit to the sacrifice those who had not been regenerated in the waters of baptism; there being no fear then of compromising the mysteries. by reciting these prayers, they were solemnly chanted.

Deus in Adjutorium.—The priest and the faithful arise, and turn toward the altar. At this solemn moment of the public prayer, the Church cannot forget that the demon, like a lion full of craft and rage, prowls around the faithful band, above all when our heart offers to God the incense of prayer. Do we not know this of our own experience?

In the ordinary occupations of our life our mind is entirely upon that which we do. But when we begin to pray, then a swarm of foreign and importunate thoughts buzz around us; distractions carry us into unknown and fantastic regions; the body is in the holy place, but a mysterious power draws the mind abroad. And what invisible force swells the storm of temptation during prayer? Temptations to idleness, vanity, frivolity, sleep, not to speak of others more humiliating to the Christian who desires to recollect himself before God.

All these things are the work of the demon. Against the attacks of the enemy the Church, before the office, arms us with the cross, and puts on our lips the cry of distress and confidence: "Deus in adjutorium meum