many graces am I not indebted to Thee, because Thou hast made it known to me.

I venerate, and lovingly embrace, insults, trials, and poverty, as so many portions of Thy cross, sanctified by Thy precious blood. O how late have I come to know their value!. Truly do I

lament my past blindness, which has led me to love and to esteem vanities. Henceforward I shall be wiser, nor shall I ever again wish to be more comfortably circumstanced than Thou wert, my Lord and Master. And while Thy life was spent "in labour and painfulness, in hunger and thirst, in cold and nakedness (a), it would be a shame should I, thy disciple and servant, wish to live otherwise. No; from this hour forward, poverty shall be my dearest treasure, a lowly state my highest dignity, tribulation my most cherished delight. Thus have I resolved within myself, and this resolve, with Thy grace, I shall carry out during the entire course of my life.

COMPENDIUM.

I. Consider the generosity and excellence of the third degree.

There is nothing more sublime, more magnamious, more heroic, than to refuse (though we might have them) riches, pleasures, and honours; and to desire and seek in their stead, poverty, afflictions, and insults, for the sole reason of becoming more like to Christ.

II. Think upon the happiness which it implies. For (1) Those who attain to this degree enjoy a fore(a) 2 Cor. xi. 27.

taste of Paradise.

(2.) They are near the source of

all happiness-Christ-whom they are incessantly striving to imitate. (3.) The attainment of this degree is the sweetest consolation we can offer to the heart of Jesus; and, (4.) Lastly, it is the means best suited to win souls to God.

III. Reflect upon its utility. (1.) It is the surest path by which we may attain perfection, and the salvation of our souls. (2.) It is a most fruitful source of acts meritorious of eternal life. (3.) It makes our desires conformable to the Divine will; and, (4.) Finally, there is promised to those who embrace it an eternal reward.

314

Seventh Day.

FIRST MEDITATION.

On what Jesus Christ suffered in his honour; and how such suffering tends to instruct us.

TO THE READER.

ONE ought to meditate on the mysteries of the passion of Christ, (1.) as if he were actually present at that awful spectacle; (2.) as if Jesus suffered solely on his account, and because of his personal sins; (3.) as if the Redeemer had offered to the Eternal Father, for him alone, the agonies He was forced to undergo. Then, the fruit to be gathered from the meditation is a greater firmness in keeping one's self in the third degree of humility, that is to say, wishing to live in poverty, contempt, and affliction, merely for the sake of bearing a closer resemblance to Jesus Christ.

in

FIRST POINT.

Consider the insults that Jesus had to endure. First, He received a blow; and three circumstances conspire to make this insult outrageous beyone measure, viz. (1.) The infinite dignity of the person so insulted, for He was God; (2.) The abject condition

of the offender, who was but a vile menial. (3.). The cruelty of the act, for it was inflicted with a glove of steel. And why this outrage? merely for an answer replete with heavenly wisdom! O my God! that you should receive a blow! You! And from so mean a hand. So horrified are the Holy Fathers of the Church at this act, that they confess themselves amazed why the earth did not open at that moment to devour the miscreant; why the sun still continued to shed its rays, and why the entire universe was not again thrown back into chaos.

Secondly, Christ was scoffed at. Consider (1.) who it is that was so treated; (2) and by whom; (3.) and after what fashion. He who was thus insulted was the Son of God, the glory of the Eternal Father, the Supreme Monarch of heaven and of earth; and yet He is most ignominously reviled by a vile, base, cowardly rabble; they blindfold Him; they spit upon His face; they pluck His beard; they kick Him; and in fact exhaust all the methods of insult which the most fertile imaginaton could devise; and not only is He made sport of by the mob, but, clad in the dress of a buffoon, He is forced to endure the sneers of Herod's courtiers, and the insulting remarks of the Scribes and Jewish priests, and the gibes of the officers. Oh what a wonderful spectacle of humility and of patience!

bas.

Thirdly, Christ was held of less esteem than Barab

And here reflect, likewise, (1.) who is it that is held of less esteem; (2.) and in comparison with whom ; (3.) and under what circumstances. God of Infinite Majesty is ranked with a wretched

The

malefactor; the Giver of every good gift is placed in the same balance with a brigand; the Author of Life is paired with a murderer; and to the former there is allotted the most infamous of deaths-that

of the cross. And to make the insult the greater, His sentence was public and unanimous. The people, the nobles, the doctors of the law, the priests, all voted for it; and as though the blood of Christ were that of a murderer, they, with one accord, exclaimed: "His blood be upon us and upon our children”.

Fourthly, the innocent Redeemer is assailed by the most outrageous calumnies. He is called a blasphemer, one possessed by the devil, a Samaritan, a drunkard, one who would destroy the Temple; an ambitious man, and one of rebellious disposition, who would drive the people to destruction. And here we must consider the false nature of the accusations, the infamous character of those who made them, the injustice of those who were placed in the tribunals to administer justice, and, finally, the world-wide reputation of the Redeemer for virtues directly opposed to the vices of which He was accused.

SECOND POINT.

Consider, and, while considering, admire the silence with which Jesus endured those many insults. One might have expected that the Divine Justice would have armed every creature to avenge such misdeeds; or, at the very least, that Jesus would have employed His Divine eloquence in His own defence. But it is quite otherwise. Jesus forgives, Jesus is silent. He was as a deaf man that heareth not, and as a