## **Contents**

Faith hope Charity

PREFACE

Editor's Foreword

Three days Spiritual Exercises

Author's Preface To the European Reader

To the Students of the Seminary of Karumatthampatty in the Apostolic Vicariate of Coimbatore

RETREAT SCHEDULE

Points regarding the English Translation

FIRST TALK

FIRST MEDITATION

SECOND TALK

PARTICULIER EXAMEN I

THIRD TALK

SECOND MEDITATION

FOURTH TALK

PARTICULIER EXAMEN II

FIFTH TALK

THIRD MEDITATION

SIXTH TALK

PARTICULAR EXAMEN III

SEVENTH TALK

FOURTH MEDITATION

EIGHTH TALK
(p 1)

Faith

Hope

Charity

SPIRITUAL EXERCISES

GIVEN TO INDIAN SEMINARISTS

Translation from Latin by

Dom Gerard Dubois O.C.S.O.

Translation for French by

John Flynn SMA.

Bishop Ambrose Mathalaimathu

Bishop of Coimbatore (India)

With permission of Superior

Patrick J. Harrington SMA

Superior General

Rome, 1st February 1988

(p 2)

PREFACE

(p 3)

Monseigneur Melchior Marie Joseph Marion de Bresillac came to India in 1842 at the age of 29 as a missionary of the Foreign Mission Society of Paris. After some months of learning Tamil in Pondicherry he was first appointed Curate of Salem. But soon afterwards he was put in-charge of the seminary at Pondicherry. In 1845, he was elected Bishop of Prusa and Pro-Vicar Apostolic of Coimbatore. Out of humility he declined to accept his elevation to the episcopate and wrote to that effect to the Sacred Congregation of Propaganda Fide. Rome, however, re-jected the request of Monseigneur de Bresillac; He bowed to the wishes of the Holy See and was consecrated at Karumatthampatty, a small village near Coimbatore on 4th October 1846. Monseigneur Bonnand, the then Vicar Apostolic of Pondicherry has this comment to make on this historic occasion: "It is the first time that a Bishop was consecrated by three Bishops in the West Coast of India; the consecration took place in a small village which nobody thought worthy of such honour and such magnificence. "

When he took charge of Coimbatore Vicariate as its Pro-Vicar, there were 10,500 Catholics and 4 missionaries. He himself reviews the situation as follows: "Out of the 50 churches or chapels, three or four are built in bricks and mortar with tiled roof; they are very small; the rest are nothing but huts built with mud and covered with thatched roof. There is a seminary with ten students accommodated in a single small room. Everything is to be created. Conversions are very few, the number of missionaries (4 and no Indian priests) being insufficient even for the care of Christians."

Monseigneur de Bresillac was made Vicar Apostolic of Coimbatore in 1850 and in the same year he transferred the headquarters from (p 4)

Karumatthampatty to Coimbatore, where he laid the foundations of the present Cathedral, which according to his plan was to be in pure Roman style and, in a small scale, a replica of the Basilica of St. Peter in Rome.

In November 1853, Monseigneur de Bresillac left for Rome with a view to clear his doubts regarding the Malabar rites and the caste system which caused him anxiety and unforeseen difficulties resulting in a re-volution among the faithful and dissension among the clergy. He, how-ever, never returned to India. He resigned his see in 1855 and sub-sequently founded the Society of African Missions of Lyons.

Monseigneur de Bresillac was a progressive Bishop with broad vis-ions. He was, so to say, many years ahead of his times. His views about the caste-system proved right now after a hundred or more years. Un-touchability because of caste has been abolished and is now punishable, if practised. Caste names have been abolished in the church registers and official documents. Intercaste marriages are encouraged. Priestly and religious vocations are promoted in all communities. Churches and tem-ples are open to all, irrespective of their castes - Even in hindu temples, "archakas" (priests) who were formerly considered the prerogative of Brahmins, can now be appointed from other castes.

As regards the formation of an Indian Clergy, his first efforts were directed towards this goal. Even here, his vision was far ahead of his times, and in 1886, when the hierarchy was established in India, Pope Leo XIII would seal it with his clarion call "Fili tui, India, administri tui salutis. "

Monseigneur de Bresillac took personal interest in the spiritual and intellectual training of the seminarians; he enacted definite and wise rules for their formation. He gave the tonsure to the first batch of 5 students in 1849 and then the minor orders in 1853, just before he left for Rome. They all persevered and became the first pillars of the Indian Clergy in the Vicariate of Coimbatore.

The retreat he gave in Latin to the seminarians of Karumatthampatty just before he left for Rome, bears ample testimony the great love (p 5) he had in his heart for the seminarians. This retreat was based on the three theological virtues of "Faith, hope and charity", which, to say the truth, form the very foundations of the spiritual life. While going through the text, one cannot but notice the deep love and knowledge Mgr. de Bresillac had for the Holy Scriptures. His meditations are all based on Scripture and the very many scripture quotations we find in every page prove the facility with which he could handle the various books of the revealed Word.

That he did not only preach on Faith, Hope and Charity but also did live them himself, could easily be seen from the fact that these were the last three words he pronounced before his death.

I deem it a privilege to have been invited to write the preface of this work. Although this work was originally meant for the Indian seminarians of Karumatthampatty, it will no doubt be of benefit to anyone who reads it, as it deals with, as Mgr. de Bresillac himself says, means to follow to arrive at eternal life.

24th August 1985

\+ M. AMBROSE

Bishop of Coimbatore

(p 6)
Editor's Foreword

(p 7)

On the 31st. October 1853, Mgr. de Marion Bresillac wrote in his diary: HI have just arrived from Karumatthampatty where I had gone to say farewell to the seminarians by giving them the annual retreat preceding the conferring of Minor Orders(1), Let the good God deign to bless these young men for the consolations which they have given me over these four years. They have certainly confirmed that it is possible to train, here and everywhere, good priests, as long as one is willing to take the means. If there is an area in the world which is barren as far as this fundamental work is concerned, it is certainly here. I have been helped in educating these young clerics by only one missionary(2). Two others have helped rather than hin-dered the project. All the others have hampered the work. 0 my God! When will you permit those who have eyes, to see and those who have ears, to hear? It will be when the time of your mercy as Saviour for these peoples will have come. Up to then, priests who are otherwise good, but who will not be capable of meriting the name of Apostles, will have their eyes closed to the evidence".

This text is situated at a crucial moment where Mgr. de Bresillac, after having obtained permission to go to Rome, will have to give an explanation for his request to the Holy See to be relieved, urgently, of his duty as Vicar Apostolic of Coimbatore. He implies some reasons here but not the most important, namely the difficulty of supporting any longer in conscience the confusion due to tolerance of the Malabar Rites. There was as yet no mention of inculturation.

Before leaving he gave the retreat in Latin to the seminarians of Karumatthampatty \-- the Seminary for the Vicariate Apostolic. We present the exercises of this retreat here. The content of the text will be understood (p 8)

if one realizes that Mgr de Bresillac intended to make of this house a real seminary and not just a simple college for ecclesiastical students or a hostel for seminarians passing through(3). He didn't have a purely functional con-cept of the priestly ministry. He wanted secular priests "after the manner of Apostles", who would also be witnesses to the Kingdom which they announce and celebrate. Whence comes the call for the evangelical coun-sels which are at once the fruit of charity and a means of making it grow; at the same time they promote liberty in the service of the Lord. It was his belief that it was possible to promote among the Indians this kind of priest.

Spiritual theology has certainly progressed since then. Vatican Coun-cil II in Chapter V of Lumen Gentium, affirms that the counsels are many, and not just three. In addition they are proposed to all Christians. Further-more, if the Council considered the vocation to the ministerial priesthood as an "invaluable gift", it recognized as well "the admirable vocation of the common priesthood "of every baptized person" (Lumen Gentium 34).

With our Author the situation of non-Christians and heretics is rather briefly dealt with. It is admited and taught today that non-Christians "are ordered to the People of God and that God does not refuse the help necessary for salvation to those who, through no fault of their own, as yet do not know him expressly, provided that they seek him with a sincere heart" (L. G. 15).

Traces of a morality of intention, independent of the intrinsic good-ness of the action, will be found in the text. Thus, of two seminarians, who would accomplish the same good actions externally, one would be saved and the other damned if he did not act from the motive of faith! But what is meant exactly by that and when can one consider that a man does not have such a motive? And yet, Saint Louis de Gonzaga is praised for the fact that he was a "man disincarnate or an angel incarnate". But the Council reminds us that "it is forbidden for man to disdain bodily life" and that "he must esteem and respect his body which has been created by God and which will rise at the last day" (Gaudium et Spes 14).

Whatever be the case, a breath of optimism, not very usual at that time, flows through these pages. Marion Bresillac calls with insistence to (p 9)

love more than to fear. He believes that these seminarians are capable of Christian perfection in line with the evangelical statements of Jesus. This opinion was far from being unanimous among the missionaries of that time. He was capable of distinguishing the sins of weakness from those of malice. He does not believe that a man with a living faith can easily commit mortal sin. Besides, he rests the whole ediface of the spiritual life on the foundation of the three theological virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity. When one remembers that these were the last three words he uttered before dying, one can see in these virtues the rock on which this eventful life has found its most solid foundations. That largely corrects considerations which elsewhere could appear to us as rigorous, narrow and somewhat moralizing. Finally, one will be struck by the vast biblical knowledge of the author, even if he has very likely used a concordance for the final drafting of the text. To draw from the source of the Word of God can only rejuvenate and strengthen Faith and it is in this spirit that we approach the reading of these pages.

Have these exercises been given only to Indian seminarians? There is in the archives of the African Missions a draft \- in French \- of the text given at Karumatthampatty in Latin, but the material is set out differently. Now, during the year 1855, Mgr. de Bresillac preached a retreat to the seminarians of Soissons on the invitation of the Bishop. Has he made use of the same text as at Karumatthampatty? No one knows.

The translation of the work printed in Rome in 1854 through the good offices of the Sacred Congregation f or "the Propagation of the Faith" and which we publish here has been done by Dom Gerard Dubois, Abbot of the Trappist Monastery of Soligny. We are grateful to him for the care he has taken with the translation. The texts of Scripture are cited from the ecumenical Translation of the Bible save when the author was giving a commentary which followed strictly the Vulgate. The patristic citations have been checked where-ever possible by having recourse to the original text. It appears that, for the most part, they have been cited from the readings in the breviary which was then in use.

It remains for us in our time to put into practice the content of these (p10) exercises, for the Christian and missionary life has no foundation other than that of Faith, Hope and Charity.

Jean Bonfils s.m.a.

1 A copy of the "Spiritual Exercises", placed in the archives of the SMA Generalate, and dedicated by Mgr de Bresillac to "his dear son Xaverimouttou (or Xaveriappen)", gives the names of the ordinands:

Anthonimuttu, son of Sinnapan and Annamal, from Buklipaleam, ordained Porter. Xaveriappen (or Xaverimouttou), newly baptized, from Krishnaburam, ordained Porter (1).

Rayappan, son of Arulappan and Saveriammal from Sommanellam, ordained Exorcist. Ganapragassam, son of Arockiassamy and Annamal, from Palghat, ordained Exorcist. Arulappan, son of Anthonimuttu and Saveriammal, from Karumatthampatty, ordained Exorcist.

Mariamman, son of Xaverishetty and Mariammal, from Kasly, ordained Exorcist and

Acolyte.

(1) Son of Karuppuchevan and Andakal.

2 Fr. Pierre Métral, was born in Ugine, Savoie, in 1802. He was already working at Coim-batore when the Vicariate was erected. He was Superior of the Seminary at Karumatthampatty in 1846. He was Pro Vicar of Coimbatore in 1850. He died in 1857. Rome, unaware of his death, appointed him two months later, to succeed Mgr. de Bresillac as head of the Vicariate.

3 Cf. Jean Bonfils, The Work of Mgr. de Bresillac in favour of a Local Clergy in the Indian Mission in 19th. Century, Lyons 1959, pp. 35-48.
Three days Spiritual Exercises

(p 11)

Three days Spiritual Exercises

given to the seminarists of Karumatthampatty from 26th. October to the 30th. October 1853 by Bishop M.M.J. de Marion Bresillac

Bishop of Pruse and Vicar Apostolic of Coimbatore

ROME

Printed by the Sacred Congregation for the Propogation of the Faith

1854
Author's Preface To the European Reader

(P12)

The spiritual exercises which we publish here have been given to young clerical students from India in a manner adapted to their particular conditions.

Should they arrive in the hands of a European, let him realize that they have been given in their time with profit and let him not reject them at first sight under the pretext that they are not suited to the character of the European cleric: let him just remember that they have been intended originally for a different situation.

Frankly speaking, when it is a question of the means to be used for eternal life, human nature, scarcely differs, if at all, from one country to another. Also, we think, clerics, other than Indian, can draw profit from our work. If such is the case, we can only thank the Author of all good.

The Latin language which we have used will appear a little heavy and less elegant; we concede this willingly. But we have opted to choose a simple and even sometimes common form because of the youth of the audience who have less experience of the works of Tullius and Virgil than of the writings of Augustine, Gregory, Bernard and other Doctors of the Church \-- writings which are excellent and well composed.

We pray God finally that he will pour his abundant blessings on all those who will read this pamphlet.

AM EN.
To the Students of the Seminary of Karumatthampatty in the Apostolic Vicariate of Coimbatore

(p 13)

To the Students of the Seminary of Karumatthampatty

in the Apostolic Vicariate of Coimbatore

Dear Sons,

Before leaving for Rome to present my respects to the Sovereign Pontiff and to give him an account of the state of the mission of Coimba-tore, I have myself given you the spiritual exercises, with the desire of talking to you about supernatural things.

I admit it with joy: from the day when the very good Jesus called you to the ecclesiastical state and confided you to me in order that I be your spiritual father, you have given me many consolations; in the first place there is the joy which I have felt, during these three days of prayer and pious exercises, admiring your attention, piety and compunction with which you have heard the teachings of the Holy Spirit.

Furthermore, you have given the unquestionable sign of your desire to keep these teachings in your minds and hearts, when one of you, with the consent of his companions, I expect, asked me to leave you my written notes of the talks which you wished to copy.

You know, dear sons, that I always listen to your requests when they are reasonable, especially when it is a question of providing you with a spiritual good. I would have agreed immediately to your request if I had not considered it advisable to review the talks which I had composed in a hurry. Furthermore, and especially, the citations from Holy Scripture were from memory and therefore, it was to be feared, were not literal. I also considered it necessary to add the meditations which had not been written out. I remember them sufficienty well to re-compose them as you find them here.

Today I respond to your wishes and send you the exercises which (p 14)

are now complete; I trust that in re-reading them you will feel again the excellent sentiments you felt during the retreat.

If the good God, who conducts everything for his greater glory and for our spiritual use, grants me the grace of returning to the beloved mission of Coimbatore, I will speak to you again and frequently of his mercy, as well as of Faith, of Charity, of Piety and of the other Christian and ecclesiastical virtues. If, on the contrary, the good God wishes that I do not see you again in this world, but only in Heaven, you will have this pamphlet as a memorial so that you will not forget me before God and that you always pray for me.

Keep well. And let God's grace, the token of which is the blessing that I send you, remain in you always, dear sons, in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. AMEN.

\+ M.M.J. de Marion Bresillac

Bishop of Pruse, Vic. Ap. of Coimbatore

Rome, 28 June 1854
RETREAT SCHEDULE

(p 15)

Wednesday

\- 6.00pm: Veni Creator will be sung in the Church.

After Veni Creator all will go the Bishop's House for the Spiritual Talk.

After the talk there will be meditation.

\- 7.00pm: Visit to the Blessed Sacrament: Pangua Lingua, a Marian Antiphon and Laudate Dominum omnes gentes will be sung.

\- 7.15pm: Rosary.

After Rosary there will be dinner.

After dinner there will be recreation during which talking in moderation will be permitted.

\- 8.30pm: Vocal Prayer. The theme for tomorrow's meditation will be given.

All retire to sleep.

Thursday

\- 5.30am: Rising: A half-hour will be allowed for washing and dressing. During this time there is silence and reflection on the theme of the meditation.

\- 5.30am: Vocal Prayer and meditation in the Bishop's House.

\- 6.30am: Free time.

\- 7.00am: Mass, during which Ps. 50, Miserere Mei Deus, 0 Salutaris and some verses from Ps. 118, Beati Immaculati in via, will be chanted.

\- 7.30am: Breakfast: During Breakfast there will be reading.

Free time.

(p 16)

\- 8.00am: Reading of the Hour from the Little Office of B.V.M.

Free time.

\- 10.00am: Spiritual Talk followed by meditation until 11.00am.

Free time.

\- 1l.45am: Reading from the Gospel and Particular Examen.

\- 12.00 Noon: Lunch

After dinner there will be recreation during which talking in moderation will be permitted.

\- 1. 15pm: Rest in Dormitory.

\- 2.00pm: Rosary and Vespers of B.V. Mary.

Free time.

\- 4.00pm: Talk and meditation as above for 10.00am.

\- 5.00pm: Matins and Lauds of B.V. Mary.

Free time.

\- 6.30pm: Spiritual Reading from the life of Saint Louis de Gonzaga (Tamil version).

\- 7.00pm: Visit to Blessed Sacrament with the same chants as yesterday.

\- 7.30pm: As yesterday.

Friday and Saturday

All as on Thursday.

Sunday

All as on other days up to 6.45am.

\- 6.45am: All will accompany the Bishop in procession to the Church singing Veni Creator.

(p 17)

7.00am: Ordination Mass: After the ordination Ps. 15, Conserva Me, will be chanted instead of Ps. Miserere.

After Mass, Breakfast in silence with reading.

\- 8.45: Talk. After the talk everybody will go to the Church for the singing of Te Deum which will mark the end of the Retreat.

* * *

A.M.D.G.

During free time, each one, according to devotion or according to what is useful for him, will read spiritual books, pray, examine his conscience, go to confession, or seek spiritual direction in order to maintain his interior spiritual progress. It is advisable to go to confession at least twice; once at the beginning and again at the end of the Retreat.

* * *

Reading from the New Testament and the Old Testament as well as from the Imitation of Jesus Christ to be done during free time.

Thursday: James Ch. 4.

Gen. Ch. 22

Imitation of Jesus Christ L. III, Ch. 3 and L. II, Ch. 8.

Friday: Hebrews, Ch. 11.

Judges, Ch. 7.

Imitation of Jesus Christ L. I, Ch. 15 and L. III, Ch. 57.

Saturday: 1 John, Ch. 5.

Gen. Ch. 18

Imitation of Jesus Christ L. III, Ch. 54 and L. IV, Ch. 1.
Points regarding the English Translation

(p 18)

Faith, Hope and Charity were the last words on the lips of Marion de Bresillac. These words serve as a fitting title for the spiritual exercises he gave to the seminarians of Karumatthampatty just before he left India for Rome in 1853.

The retreat to the seminarists was given in Latin. This was translated into French by Dam Gerard Dubois, the Abbot of the Trappist Monastery of Soligny. This English edition is a translation from the French text of Dam Gerard Dubois.

In translating from French into English I have made use of various editions of the Bible. For the greater part I have used the New Jerusalem Bible. The Good News Bible as well as the New American Bible have occasionally been used. Whenever the French text indicated the Vulgate edition I have used that.

As for quotations from the Fathers of the Church I have had recourse to the Divine Office when that was possible. Otherwise the translation is my own.

John Flynn SMA.
FIRST TALK

(p 19)

Wednesday at 6 h 1/4

"I shall not call you servants any more, because a servant does not know his master's business; I call you friends, because I have made known to you everything I have heard from my Father" (Jn 15,15)

Such are the words of Christ, very dear sons, which our excellent Master addressed to his disciples shortly before he left them. He added: "In a short time you will no longer see me, and then a short time later you will see me again" (Jn16,16). Taking the place, though unworthy, of Christ with you, and before making my way to the Sovereign Pontiff, our Father and the Head of the whole Church militant and imploring his blessing on you and on the Church of India, it is my wish to propose to you these same words so as to complete the monitions or instructions that I have often given to you; so that in my absence you may progress from virtue to virtue, like the Apostles who "who were all filled with the Holy Ghost" (Acts 2,4) after the ascension of Jesus into heaven; and that like them you may bear the fruit of holiness in yourselves and of edifica-tion for the people.

Christ has, indeed, added: "You did not chose me; no, I chose you; and I commissioned you to go out and to bear fruit, fruit that will last" (Jn15,16). In the same way you, very dear sons, you have not chosen Jesus; it is Jesus who has first chosen you; Jesus has called you, he has set you apart from others in order that you may be his friends and that you may hear the voice of his preference. It is by his mercy and his particular providence on your account that he has chosen you among so many other young people of your age, of similar position, of equal merit, who were perhaps better than you, endowed with superior gifts of nature, who would perhaps be more holy than you today if Jesus had called them and if he had given them the graces which he has showered on you for the last six or seven years.

(p 20)

Why has God called you, and not the others? Let us seek no other reason than his mercy in your respect, his love, his grace. The grace is called such because it is given graciously. It is unwarranted that God has loved you more than the others; he has wanted you not as servants but as friends. To the others he has spoken in parables, but to you he has spoken openly, as Jesus said to his disciples: "The mysteries of the king-dom of God are revealed to you; for the rest there are only parables, so that they may see but not perceive, listen but not understand" (Lk 8,10).

If therefore God has so loved you, love him in return, very dear sons, and open the ears of your heart to hear the words by which he will reveal to you the mysteries of his kingdom. "My son hearken to my words: and incline thy ear to my sayings ... keep them in the midst of thy heart" (Pr. 4,20-21). And Jesus: "The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life" (Jn6,64). Open your hearts that they may be irrigated and made fertile by the word of the Lord as the grass by the morning dew, and increase, and "bear fruit and let your fruit remain" (Cf above). "May my teaching fall like the rain, may my word drop down like the dew, like showers on fresh grass" (Deut. 32,2). These are the words of Moses.

Very dear sons, during the course of these exercises, I wish to as-sume that you are the true friends of Christ and "I will not call you servants any more" but "friends". I will not call you servants any more and still less sinners, servants of the devil. O Lord Jesus, our Love and our All, these youths are not sons of the devil whom you have selected, whom you have loved, whom you have favoured with blessings, who have been nourished and satisfied with your sustenance in the very holy communion of your Body. You are not the sons of the devil, you who have very often manifested openly your hatred towards this capital enemy of Jesus Christ, who have desired to knock down his temples, to abolish his cult, to destroy his empire so that the reign of Christ may come and may be strengthened in this region still darkened by idolatry. You are not the sons of the devil, you whose hands have so often with joy decorated the Temple of the living God, which is the figure of the heavenly Jerusalem, our future dwelling, "the true abode of God with men" (Ap. 21,3); you whose tongue chants each day the praise of Christ and proclaims him King, he, the "only mighty, the King of Kings and (p 21) Lord of Lords" (1 Tim 6,15); you whose eyes have contemplated fre-quently the Body of Christ hidden under the admirable species of the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar, adoring Jesus in the sacrament, with faith, with love, with the desire of contemplating him face to face in heaven, when the day of our deliverance will come; you whose heart has beaten with love and reverence each time that Jesus has deigned to come down to it, though in an invisible manner, at the moment of the very holy communion. 0 Lord my God! They are not the sons of the devil, these young men whose whole life is in Christ and for Christ, since the day of their vocation.

Therefore, I will not call you servants, I will not call you sinners, but friends. This is why I will not address you with words of fear, but with words of love; I will not propose the way of conversion, but the way of progress and perfection; I will not lead you to the brink of the precipice for you to contemplate with terror the torments of the damned and realize from it this salutary fear which is the "beginning of Wisdom" (Ps 110); but I will lead you to the company of the saints, in order that admiring their Faith, their Hope and their Charity, you may arrive, you also, at the Charity which, in the words of Saint Paul, is the "perfect bond" (Col. 3,14).

Certainly the contemplation of hell is always useful, just as the con-sideration of the malice of sins, and still more the meditation of death and eternity, whether that of glory or of punishment. It is often good during this life to descend in spirit to that land of misery, "of darkness and the shadow of death", as Job says, "where the shadow of death, and no order, but everlasting horrow dwelleth" (Job 10,22); it is good, I say, to descend there in spirit so as not to have to descend there body and soul after the terrible judgement. "In everything you do, remember your end, and you will never sin" (Si 7,36), says the wise man. It is good in time of retreat, to stimulate ourselves, with horror of sin, to contrition for past sins, a subject on which no one must "be sure" (Si 5:5); it is good to make provision for that which will help our weakness to avoid sinning in the future, as we are exposed to it, considering our tendency to "evil" (Ex. 32, 22). Ordinarily, the greatest part of a retreat is spent (p 22) usefully in meditating these points. It is often that you have done that in the past and will do so again in the course of your life, with the greatest spiritual profit. But today I do not wish to lead you to God in this way. I want to lead you, as I have said it, on the route not of fear but of love. That is why I do not wish to consider you for one single moment as sinners, that is to say as remaining in the state of actual mortal sin. I will not call you sinners or "servants" but "friends"; friends of Christ, walking in his grace, in order that you understand what the servants do not understand, the words of perfection.

Meanwhile, this powerful enemy, who "is prowling around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to eat" (1 Pet. 4,5), who has seduced our first parents in paradise, "it was the devil's envy that brought death into the world" (Wis 2,24), has perhaps sometimes seduced your heart. If such is the case, let us weep, certainly; but as I hope that you have ousted him, I do not wish to believe that one of you may be now, in this present moment, so miserable that the sweet words of Christ cannot benefit: "I call you friends" (Jn. 15,15). However, since God alone knows the secrets of hearts, let us put our heart under his attention and in sorrow for our faults of ignorance and for our past sins, let us implore his mercy in order that our iniquities may be once again radically wiped out.

Wash me clean of my guilt, purify me from my sin ... God create a clean heart in me, put into me a new spirit" (Ps 50). If anyone has reason to fear that he may really be in the state of mortal sin, let him, im-mediately, on his knees in spirit at the feet of the Lord, melt in tears under his gaze, let him humble himself with the woman sinner who "waited behind him at his feet, weeping, and her tears fell on his feet, and she wiped them away with her hair; then she covered his feet with kisses and anointed them with the ointment" (Lk. 7,38). 0 what true contrition, that which has merited to hear the words of Christ to Simon: "For this reason I tell you that her sins, her many sins, must have been forgiven her, or she would not have shown such great love" (ibid 47) and to herself: "Your sins are forgiven" (ibid 48). Let him with all his heart (p 23) cry out with David: "I have sinned" (2 Kings 12,13), and with the prodi-gal son returning to his Father: "Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you, I no longer deserve to be called your son (Lk. 15,21). And even today, before going to sleep, let him show his sorrow to the priest, who will judge "a case of murder, legal rights or assault" (Deut. 17,8); and if he is truly contrite, let the priest absolve him in the name of the Lord and "the Redemption of sins" (Ps. 129). I say today and not tomorrow; today, if you think prudently that you are gravely guilty, come to confession before sleep; for tomorrow Jesus wishes to speak to your heart. How could his kind words penetrate your heart, if that were wrapped in darkness? "A light that shines in the darkness", says the Apostle John, "a light that darkness could not overpower" (Jn. 1,5). The Apostle Paul demanded the illumination of hearts, in order that the spirits may be illumined and understand the revelation of Christ: "May the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, give you a spirit of wisdom and perception of what is revealed, to bring you to full know-ledge of him" (Eph. 1,17-18).

"Put on the new self that has been created in God's way, in the goodness and holiness of the truth" (Eph. 4,24). "Let those who do good go on doing good, and those who are holy continue to be holy" (Ap. 22,11). For "Very soon now, I shall be with you again" (ibid. 12), says the Lord, for to make you know "everything I have heard from my Father" (above); I will speak to you words not of fear, but of love and perfection; not as to servants, but as to friends; "because I, Yahweh, am holy, and I will set you apart from all these peoples so that you may be mine" (Lev. 20,26).

In the admirable law of Christ, one should distinguish two kinds of teaching. One, common and addressed to everybody; without its obser-vance heaven remains closed. The other aspires to perfection and are Counsels; they do not oblige everyone at all times, but the group of those Whom Jesus calls friends, whom he choses as disciples, whom he sends as "labourers into his vineyard" (Mt. 20,1), whom he makes "priests to serve his God and Father" (Ap. 1,6) and "swift messengers to a people (p 24) tall and bronzed ... , a people mighty and masterful" (Is 18,2), as is our unhappy India; not to destroy it, but to snatch it from its "enemies" (Ps 58), by the apostolic ministry.

To all it is said: "Unless a man is born of water and the Holy Spirit he cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven" (Jn. 3,5). And elsewhere: "If you do not eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his Blood, you shall not have life in you" (Jn. 6,53). And somewhere else: "If a man looks at a woman lustfully, he has already committed adultery with her in his heart" (Mt. 5,28). And elsewhere: "You must not kill. You must not commit adultery. You must not steal. You must not bring false wit-ness. Honour your father and mother, and: you must love your neighbour as yourself" (Mt. 19,18-19). And much more. Thus to all it is prescribed. to receive baptism, to take the Eucharist, to preserve chastity, even in thought, to honour parents, to love the neighbour and to observe and to avoid many other things. On the other hand, it is not to all, but to the special friends of Christ that it is said: "There are eunuchs born that way from their mother's womb, there are eunuchs made so by men and there are eunuchs who have made themselves that way for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Let anyone accept this who can" (Mt. 19,12). And again: "If you wish to be perfect, go sell what you own and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven" (Mt. 19:21). And elsewhere: "So in the same way, none of you can be my disciple unless he gives up all his possessions" (Lk. 14,33). And much else besides.

Thus, to certain people perfect chastity, perfect poverty, perfect obedience are counselled: this perfect chastity which Paul would suggest when he wrote: "She would be happier, in my opinion, if she stayed as she is that is to say unmarried - and I too have the Spirit of God, I think" (1 Cor. 7,40). This perfect chastity, which has made those of whom John, himself a virgin, speaks, worthy of being companions of the Immaculate Lamb. "These are the ones who have kept their virginity and not been defiled with women" (Ap. 14,4). This perfect poverty which the Apostles have practised, as they say it: "Behold, we have left all things and have (p 25) followed you" (Mt. 19,27). The perfect obedience, the perfect example for all time which was the entire life of Christ who cried out: "My aim is not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me" (Jn. 5:30). "Nevertheless, let your will be done, not mine" (Lk. 22,42). "Neverthe-less, let it be done as you, not I, would have it" (Mt. 26, 39). "He was humbler yet, even to accepting death, death on a cross" (Ph. 2,8). You will say perhaps, or rather the Tempter will introduce into your hearts this objection: the evangelical counsels do not oblige either always or everyone, therefore they do not oblige me. Moreover, why be concerned with counsels and perfection? Is the observance of the commandments not sufficient? Is the observance of the law not already sufficiently dif-ficult?

One can reply in many ways to that, very dear sons. But two is sufficient. One is addressed to your piety, and the other to your reason.

The commandments suffice! I agree that they suffice sometimes for lay people, but do they suffice for men of the Church? "The profession of Clerics", says Cassidore, "is the heavenly life". What have we said in the presence of the angels when we were made clerics? When the Bishop cut our hair to signify that we must disregard the superfluities of the world just as we neglect our hair which is the superfluous and vain adorn-ment of the body. What have we said? "Lord, my portion and my cup: my destiny depends on you" (Ps. 15). The Council of Trent stipulates: "It is absolutely fitting that clerics who are the portion of the Lord have a life and a behaviour so well ordered that they manifest nothing which is not serious, reserved and full of religion, in their dress, their gestures, their gait, their conversation, and everything else" (Sess. 22 ch. 1 of reform). "Instead, we prove we are servants of God by great fortitude in times of suffering", says the Apostle, "in times of hardship and dis-tress; when we are flogged, or sent to prison, or mobbed; labouring, sleepless, starving. We prove we are God's servants by our purity, know-ledge, patience and kindness; by a spirit of holiness" (2 Cor. 6,4ff). And Isaias: "Get out of her, purify yourselves, you who carry the vessels of Yahweh" (Is. 52,11). Who would not see that all these words prove (p 26) clearly that at least a certain perfection is necessary for men of the Church, and that those who call themselves ministers of Christ and the Church would become unworthy of their vocation if they were to be content with ordinary virtue?

The evangelical counsels are not, it is said again, addressed to all! Whatever may be the case they are addressed to certain people. Would Christ have spoken in the air? If there was no one to observe them, the Gospel would be empty; there would not be a perfect Church, and some-thing would be lacking in the work of Christ. Something God would not do. "Christ loved the Church and sacrificed himself for her to make her holy. He made her clean by washing her in water with a form of words, so that when he took her to himself she would be glorious, with no speck or wrinkle or anything like that, but holy and faultless" (Eph. 5,25-27).

Perfection must therefore always exist in the Church; saints are always necessary who put into practice the evangelical counsels. It follows that the Church cannot exist in its integrity nor be completely founded where the evangelical counsels of perfection are completely unknown.

What to say then of the Churches of these regions? Where are the perfect? Where are those who appreciate perfection, or who do not con-tradict it? Where are those for whom at least half of the Gospel is not suppressed? Has Jesus not proclaimed his Gospel in its entirety also for the Indians? It is for you, as for us that Christ has been born, has lived, has preached, has died. Our good Saviour who has died has not excluded India when he announced: "For I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself" (Jn. 12,32). He therefore draws you. He extends his hands to embrace all peoples. But, alas! The Indians have not wished to receive him. The greatest part, blind in the darkness of idolatry, have cried out: "We will not have this man reign over us" (Lk. 19,14). Some however, have become Christians, but no one has wanted to hear the words of the Master. They have received the Gospel conditionally, with the clause that the peaks of evangelical perfection are not (p 27) preached to them. Do not be surprised if right up to now, the Church in this region wavers because of the lack of a solid foundation.

It seems however, that days of mercy spring up, "the acceptable time ... the day of salvation" (2 Cor. 6,2). It seems that some ones at least now are part of those who belong to the Good Shepherd and "whom he calls each one by his name and whom he leads outside and they follow him because they know his voice" (Jn10,3-4). I have already known elsewhere some Indians, at least among the clerics, who undoubtedly belong to this flock. But you, very dear sons, will increase that chosen flock. Jesus has called you, he has chosen you, he has called you friends and you have not turned him down. You have accepted the Gospel such as it is, in its integrity, in its perfection; you know, as a matter of fact that "one jot or one title shall not pas of the law, till all be fulfilled. He therefore, that shall break one of these least commandments and shall so teach men shall be called least in the Kingdom of Heaven; but he that shall do and teach, he shall be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven" (Mt. 5,18-20). One would therefore hope that in this region also of Coimbatore the perfection of the Church may be achieved, providing that you yourselves be faithful. Be faithful therefore, very dear sons, for Jesus wishes to make known to you what he has heard from the Father, that is to say perfection of life, evangelical perfection.

Do not imagine however, that each one of you is obliged to observe all the evangelical perfections. "The wind blows where it will" says Jesus (Jn. 3,8). And the Sage: "A man's heart plans out his way but it is Yahweh who makes his steps secure" (Pr. 16,9). As for the Apostle: "Everybody has his own particular gifts from God, one with a gift for one thing and another with a gift for the opposite" (1 Cor. 7,7). It is therefore impossible that one accomplishes everything. "Are all of them apostles, or all of them prophets, or all of them teachers?" (I Cor. 12,29) says Paul. But you must not despise any of the evangelical perfections, nor object to anyone, if God inspires you to it. You must first observe the ordinary virtues to a degree of perfection, and especially the ecclesiastical virtues.

(p 28)

Such therefore, will be the aim of the spiritual exercises: to examine ourselves with reference to these virtues that perhaps we have practised right up to now in a feeble kind of way, and to stimulate ourselves to better observe them, so as to make ourselves worthy, or at least not too unworthy of our vocation.

Before beginning, let us ask God for a docile heart and a faithful spirit. Let us pray to him to illuminate our spirit, to direct our intellect, to purify our heart, and to inflame our will. Everything derives, indeed, from the Father of Light. "If there is anyone of you who needs wisdom, he must ask God, who gives to all freely and ungrudgingly; it will be given to him" says the Apostle James (James 1,5). "Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful" (Lit). "Come, Father of the poor, come, source of all our store! Come, within our bosoms shine!. .. Bend the stubborn heart and will; melt the frozen, warm the chill, guide the steps that go astray" (Sequence for Pentecost). "Lord, when you give your Holy Spirit to man, you illumine his heart and you instruct him; make us docile to your Spirit so that we may appreciate what is right and grant that we may always feel the consolation of your presence" (Prayer from the votive Mass of the Holy Spirit).

In order to obtain that, very dear sons, we must desire and ap-preciate the wisdom we ask. Let us desire therefore, as the Sage invites us: "And so I prayed, and understanding was given me; I entreated, and the spirit of Wisdom came to me. (Wis 7,7). And Jesus Christ: "Happy those who hunger and thirst for what is right; they shall be satisfied" (Mt 5,6). Let us go therefore to Jesus as thirsty people to the source of water. "As a doe longs for running streams, so longs my soul for you, my God" (Ps 42,1). He is the source of life, never dried up, who refreshes the soul. "But anyone who drinks the water that I shall give will never be thirsty again" says Jesus, on the contrary, "the water that I shall give will turn into a spring inside him, welling up to eternal life" (Jn. 4,14). "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me" (Jn. 7,37).

Let us appreciate wisdom; what is not appreciated cannot be loved, (p 29) cannot be wanted; what is not wanted, cannot be obtained. "I esteemed her more than sceptres and thrones; compared with her, I held riches as nothing. I reckoned no priceless stone to be her peer, for compared with her, all gold is a pinch of sand, and beside her silver ranks as mud" (Wis. 7,8-9).

Truly, what are all these things which "moths and woodworms de-stroy and thieves break through and steal"? (Mt. 6,19).

A few days and what will remain of wealth? What will be left of Kings? or the powerful? What will be left of certain delights of this world? or of certain acts or desires, unless they are acts and desires of virtue? Only these will remain in Eternity and will constitute for you a treasure "in heaven, where neither moth nor woodworms destroy and thieves cannot break in and steal" (Mt. 6,20). With the exception of acts of virtue, everything you do will be a loss of time, wasted effort, illusions, disappointments and perhaps remorse of conscience. How happy we would be if the past days had all been days of justice, and all our actions holy works!

o Lord Jesus, it hasn't been like that. We have erred indiscrimi-nately, we have done evil, "fools that we were" (Wis. 5,4) and if we have done anything good it was in a half-hearted way, we have been lazy in our march on the road of virtue. That is why today we are weak. For "man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God" (Mt. 4,4); and right to this very time, Lord, your word has not penetrated fully into our souls. Also "my heart is shrivelling like scorched grass and my appetite has gone" (Ps 102,4). But now, Lord, speak "for you have the words of eternal life" (Jn 6,68) and what-ever you tell us to do we will do it.

Let us come, beloved sons, to place this disposition in the heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary, who has been docile in a supreme degree, to the teaching of her Son, for "she kept all these things in her heart" (Luke 2,51). Let us go to the Church and there, on our knees under the gaze of Jesus present in the Most Holy Sacrament, we will adore him while (p 30) singing the hymn Pange Lingua and we will implore him that, during the coming three days, he condescends to speak to our hearts. Then, turned towards the Blessed Virgin Mary, we will sing in her honour the anthem Sancta Maria, "come to the help of the needy, aid the weak, console the afflicted, pray for the people, intervene for the clergy" (liturgy). AMEN.
FIRST MEDITATION

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Thursday morning after vocal prayer

Let us place ourselves in the presence of God ...

Let us adore the Lord with "all the angels who were standing in a circle around the throne" (Ap. 7,11) ... "The Lord, the God Almighty" (Apoc. 21,22). He sees everything, He knows everything, He is "the assessor of mind and heart" (Ps. 7,10). "Return to him with all your heart and soul" (Tob. 13,6). Adore "the Lord Yahweh seated on a high throne" (Is. 6,1), with the Seraphim who cover their faces with their wings and "cry out one to another in this way, Holy, Holy is Yahweh Sabaoth. His glory fills the whole earth" (Is. 6,3).

Behold now it is that "I am bold indeed to speak like this to my Lord, I who am dust and ashes" (Gen. 18,27) ... "Ah, Lord Yahweh; look, I do not know how to speak; I am a child" (Jer. 1,6). "I am a slow speaker and not able to speak well" (Ex. 4,10). "Help me Yahweh, my God" (Ps. 109,26). "Come quickly and help me" (Ps. 70,2). You Lord "teach us to pray" (Lk. 11,1). "You give breath, fresh life begins, you keep renewing the world" (Ps. 103,30). "Come, 0 Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful, enkindle in them the fire of your love" (Liturgy).

Let us imagine Jesus walking in Judea with his disciples, teaching them everything concerning the kingdom of God, as a friend talks with his friends, above all as he has deigned to call them "friends" and not "servants". "I shall not call you servants any more, because a servant does not know his master's business; I call you friends because I have made known to you everything I have heard from my Father" (n. 15,15). o how gentle are these words! "His words are sweeter than honey from the comb" (Ps 19,10). How great would have been my joy if I had heard (p 32) these words from the mouth of Jesus himself! What happiness if I had also been introduced into the most holy company of Jesus and the Disci-ples and if I had been able to enjoy their divine conversation.

But, Lord Jesus, "The Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end" (Apoc. 21,6) everything is under your gaze, the time as well as the place; and you are not unmindful of your servants. You were not speaking to your disciples alone who lived at the time of your mortal existence, but to all those who were to become your disciples right to the end of the world. For "you have the message of eternal life" (Jn. 6,68), which "will not pass away" (Mt. 24,35). Well, Lord, we ourselves, though unworthy of being called disciples, we are your disciples, at 'this time. You have called us since the beginning so that we may serve you in the ecclesiastical state, of which you are the Head, "Priest for ever" (Ps. 109,4), "acclaimed by God with the title of high priest of the order of Melchizedek" (Heb. 5,10).

I am a Levite of the new Law, though a sinner, "wretchedly and pitiably poor, and blind and naked too" (Apoc. 3,17). It was therefore to me also that you were speaking, very gentle Jesus, when you said to your disciples: "I do not call you servants any more ... I call you friends" (Jn. . 15,15). What a very sure sign of your love for me! Grant Lord, that I respond to this great love by adding, at least my own love, such as it is, and that I listen attentively to all that you are willing to make known to me. God generally speaks to our souls in silence and solitude: "I will lead her out into the wilderness and speak to her heart" (Hos. 2, 16), says the Lord. For God is not "in the earthquake" (1 Kings 19,11). He appeared to Moses and spoke to him from deep in the desert, at the mountain of God, Horeb (cf. Ex. 3,1) and when Moses remained "in the tent of the meeting" (Ex. 33,9) and "on the mountain of Sinai ... at the top of the mountain" (Ex. 34,]2). As for Samuel it was in the night, "the lamp of Gods had not yet gone out ... in the sanctuary of Yahweh where the ark of God was" (1 Sam. 3,3). For the prophets it was in withdrawal: "I got up and went out into the valley; the glory of Yahweh was resting there, like the glory I had seen by the river Chebar, and I prostrated (p 33) myself. The spirit of Yahweh then entered me, and made me stand up, and spoke to me" (Ez. 3,23-24).

You yourself, Lord Jesus used to do like this: you were accustomed to lead your disciples aside to teach them the most sublime doctrines: "The Apostles rejoined Jesus and told him all they had done and taught. Then he said to them: 'You must come away to some lonely place all by yourselves and rest for a while! ... So they went off in a boat to a lonely place" (Mk. 6, 30 & ff). Behold us, Lord, we come for three days with you in solitude of heart; far from all distractions, we rest a little from our usual occupations and even our studies, in order to remain alone with you and to listen to you. Receive us, good Jesus, into your holy company and deign to speak to us words of perfection. Illumine our minds so that they can understand and our hearts so that they may be willing to learn what you teach and to accomplish what you command. "Speak Lord, your servant is listening" (1 Sam. 3,10).

It is true, Lord, that you have already spoken to us. But we have been weak "like straw before the wind, or swept off like chaff before a gale"! (Jb. 21,18). The "word of God" (Lk. 8,11) has been smothered by our evil affections; or has withered away for lack of moisture (Lk. 8,6), that of charity, humility, piety and other virtues which make fertile the ground of the Father of the household. Perhaps sometimes it has been "trampled upon" and "the birds of the air", that is to say the demons, "have eaten everything" (Lk. 8,5). "The enemy came and sowed darnel", that is sin, "right" in our hearts (Mt. 13,25). How unhappy I am if in place of the fruit of salvation, "the fruit of justice, through Jesus Christ" (Ph. 1,11), my heart has right up to the present produced works of death, which are the fruit of sin, "too unripe to eat, fit for nothing" (Ws. 4,5).

Have pity on us, Lord, for we are children. Each day meanwhile, we must grow and progress "in wisdom ... and in favour with God and man" (Lk. 2,52). Already you have called us "friends" (Jn. 15,15), you Want us as your special friends, since you have called us to the very (p 34) perfect clerical state. Already we have heard your voice which calls to us "come follow me" (Mk. 1,17). "The night is almost over, it will be daylight soon. Let us give up all things we prefer to do under cover of the dark, let us arm ourselves and appear in the light" (Rom. 13, 11-12). Overlook our iniquities, Lord, because of your infinite mercy. "Do not remember the sins of my youth" (Ps. 25,7); help our good will for you can "raise children for Abraham from these stones" (Mt. 3,9).

Let us make an act of deep contrition; let us have burning grief for all our sins, big and small, which places us in conflict with the action of divine grace ... "Do not hold our ancestors' crimes against us" (Ps. 79,8). "God create a clean heart in me, put into me a new and constant spirit" (Ps. 51,10).

Whatever may be our past sins, let us have confidence in God who "takes pleasure, not in the death of a wicked man, but in the turning back of a wicked man who changes his ways to win life" (Ez. 33,11); who made of the "tax collector" (Lk. 5,27), a man named "Mathew" sitting by the custom's house, his disciple and apostle; who deigned to admit at his feet Magdalene "a woman, who had a bad name in town" (Lk. 7,37), leading to a life of sublime contemplation she "from whom he had cast our seven demons" (Mk. 16,9). it was he who "turned and looked straight at Peter, and Peter remembered what the Lord had said to him ... and he went out and wept bitterly" (Lk. 22,61 - 62). Then he was confirmed as head of the Church; it was he also who led to perfec-tion, by the grace of a perfect life after that of a sincere conversion, St. Augustine and other countless saints. It is necessary therefore, Lord Jesus, to have confidence in your mercy. Certainly, one should fear, for "What man can say, 'I have cleansed my heart. I am purified of my sin'?" (Pr. 20,9). It is still more necessary to hope in the very gentle Jesus who "bore our sufferings ... , has been dishonoured because of our sins" (Is. 53,4-5) and who has washed us in the bath of the sacrament of penance, has healed us by saying "Courage, my child, your sins are forgiven" (Mt. 9,2).

Lord Jesus, "Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world save (p 35) us ... hear us; Lord, have pity on us" (Liturgy). Forget our past sins. And then "I am bold indeed to speak like this to my Lord, I who am dust and ashes ... ", "I trust my Lord will not be angry if I speak once more" (Gen. 18,27-32). Add mercy to mercy by giving me perfection; grant that I may first desire this perfection, that I may be able to find the way to it that you point out to us; grant that our hearts may be ardent during these three days, as the hearts of the disciples burned on the road to Emmaus while you were speaking to them along the road and while you were explaining the Scriptures to them "starting with Moses and going through all the prophets" (Lk. 24, 27.32).

Send the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete, who will teach us "everything and remind you of all I have said to you" (Jn. 14,26). Let "a spirit of wisdom and insight, a spirit of counsel and power, a spirit of knowledge and of the fear of Yahweh" (Is. 11,2) rest on us, who will grant us to "appreciate what is right and just and ... to always feel the consolation of his presence" (Votive Mass of Holy Spirit).

But perfection of life is not only very appreciable for us, it is neces-sary. For to the others, Lord, you have spoken in parables because "they look without seeing and listen without hearing or understanding" (Mt. 13,13); but you wish "that the secret of the Kingdom is given" to us (Mt. 4,11). The others you have left on the ordinary road of salvation, in the world, and they have the cares of "world's affairs" (1 Cor 7,33); but you want us to be "free from all worry" (1 Cor. 7,32). You have set us apart in this religious house of prayer, precisely in order that we may learn "to make more and more progress in the kind of life that you are meant to live; the life that God wants" (1 Tim. 4,1). Thus you have chosen us from among so many young men who are better than we are, but whom you have not loved so much, and you have made us clerical students so that we may become priests later. We must therefore be perfect. The ordinary commandments suffice for the others, but not for us.

o Lord, grant that I may not go away sad if to the ordinary com-mandments you add the words addressed to me: "If you wish to be (p 36) perfect go ... " (Mt. 19,21). For the Minister of the Church who is imper-fect is not true to his vocation. "The profession of clerics is the heavenly life" (Cassidore). "Purify yourselves, you who carry the vessels of Yahweh" (Is. 52,11).

Lord Jesus draw us to you. You have been lifted up on the Cross, while stretching out your arms to embrace the whole world. You were saying in effect: "And when I am lifted up from the earth I will draw all things to myself" (Jn. 12,32). We have heard it said that elsewhere there exists many brothers longing for evangelical perfection; but we see only very few in these regions who accept with sincerity the Gospel in its totality. Alas, we ourselves up to the present time, blinded by the pre-judices coming from our birth, we have perhaps sometimes blushed at the idea of evangelic perfection.

How unfortunate I am, so very different from St. Paul who confes-sed: "I am not ashamed of the Good News" (Rom. 1,16). 0 Lord Jesus, I do not dare lift my eyes towards you. What your friends, the saints, have done out of humility, obedience, fraternal charity and apostolic zeal, would I object to because I am Indian? Could the way chosen by King Louis, the very noble Louis de Gonzaga, Francis Xavier, the priest and apostle of India, not be mine because I am Indian? What then of the saints? Would I not wish to do, because I am Indian, what you yourself have accomplished with your Foster Father, the glorious St. Joseph, and your most holy Mother Mary? 0 blindness of heart and madness of mind.

o my Jesus, have mercy on me "because until I became a believer I had been acting in ignorance" (1 Tim. 1,13). I was ignorant in fact of the fullness of the doctrine of the Gospel. But today, teach us yourself, Lord; you, speak to us, we will welcome all your words with respect and humility of heart. "Increase our faith" (Lk. 17,5), set charity alight, and open the eyes of our mind in order that we may understand his Gospel which we accept in its totality, which we welcome and love, such as it is. We are weak, certainly, and from lack of strength we neglect much of it; but do not permit, Lord, that we disdain even the least of your teachings (p 37) because of lack of faith or charity. You have said rightly and justly: "I tell you solemnly, till heaven and earth disappear, not one dot, not one little stroke, shall disappear from the law until its purpose is achieved. Therefore, the man who infringes even one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be consi-dered least in the kingdom of Heaven; but the man who keeps them and teaches them will be considered great in the kingdom of Heaven" (Mt. 5, 18--19).

Here therefore am I, Lord, entirely in your hands. Lead me where you wish. "Into your hands I commend my spirit" (Ps. 31,5). Direct my steps on the way of perfection which is appropriate to the ecclesiastical state; for I desire perfection, without which I would be a useless servant and you could not call me friend. What is preferable to your friendship, o Jesus? Let honours vanish, let the pleasures of body and mind fade, let wealth melt, let men be silent, let false friends clear away! It is my wish that my heart belongs to Jesus alone. Speak to my heart, Lord. "My heart is ready, 0 God, my heart is ready" (Ps. 56,8).

In order that our prayer may more easily rise right to the throne of God let us unite it to the prayers which the Saints offered to God while they lived like us on earth. Let us pray in union with the prayer of the Blessed Virgin who, full of Grace (cf. Lk. 1,28), never committed even the slightest fault but practised in the highest degree all the virtues; in union with the prayer of St. Teresa who "while still a young girl, was so enflamed by the Holy Spirit that she fled from home and wanted to go to Africa in order to shed her blood for the glory of Jesus Christ and the salvation of souls" (15th. October in old Roman Breviary); in union with the prayer of St. Louis de Gonzaga who, at the beginning of his eightieth year went to heaven where he was seen by St. Marie-Magdelene de Pazzis, in a divine vision, enjoying a glory scarcely believable even in Heaven" (Ibid, 21 Juin); in union with the prayer of St. Francis Xavier who imitated the perfection of the Apostles in these very regions.

Let their prayer make up for what is lacking in ours 0 Lord, and (p 38) let it obtain for us a share' of the perfection they have attained.

Let our particular resolution be to put ourselves simply into the hands of Jesus for all the time of the retreat, with an ear attentive to everything that our very good "Master" will say to us, whether through the mouth of the preacher, or directly in the secret of our heart for "the wind blows where ever it pleases" (Jn 3,8),

As an ejaculatory prayer, to be repeated as often as possible during the day, let us take the words of the Apostles: "Lord, increase our faith" (Lk. 17,5).
SECOND TALK

(p 39)

"I am the all powerful God; walk in my presence and be perfect" (Gen. 17,1 Latin Bible)

The All Powerful God, dearly beloved, manifests a very great Pro-vidence in creation, upholding and governing the spiritual world as well as the material world. Certainly, the infinite power of God is deployed in the creation of heaven and earth and all that they contain. Anyone, of no matter how little intelligence, will he not admire a thousand times the divine power which shines through all his material creatures? "The sky shows forth the glory of God, the firmament recounts the work of his hands" (Ps. 18,2) says the Psalmist. The sky "tempered like a mirror of cast metal" (Job 37,18), says Elihu to Job. "The world is firm, it cannot be moved, let the heavens rejoice and the earth be glad; say among the nations: Yahweh is king! Let the sea thunder and all it holds; the country-side exult and everything that is in it, and all the trees of the forest cry out for joy, at Yahweh's approach" (1 Chron. 16,30ff). "Is not wisdom calling? .. From everlasting I was firmly set. .. When he fixed the heavens firm, I was there, When he drew a circle on the surface of the deep, when he thickened the clouds above, when the sources of the deep began to swell, when he assigned the sea its bounderies - and the waters will not encroach on the shore - when he traced the foundation of the earth, I was beside the master craftsman" (Pr. 8,1.23.27-30). The Lord himself said to Job: "who pent up the sea behind closed doors? 'Come so far', I said, 'and no further; here your proud waves must break'" (Job 38,9.11).

The Lord is wonderful in his visible works and in the government of the world in which all the elements, consistent with one another, are "ordered by measure, number and weight" (Wis. 11,20) and are a hymn to the glory of God. That is why the three youths who, "were thrown into the burning fiery furnace" (Dan. 3,21) by an order of King (p 40) Nebuchadnezzar, but who, by a command of God, King of Kings, were preserved safe and sound and "they walked in the heart of the flames, praising God and blessing the Lord" (Dan. 3,24) and invited all creatures to bless the Lord with them saying: "May you be blessed, Lord, God of our ancestors, ... praise and glorify him for ever! Bless the Lord, heavens. Bless the Lord all the waters above the heavens Bless the Lord, sun and moon ... Bless the Lord, stars of the heavens Bless the Lord, all rain and dew!" (Dan. 3,52-59).

But how much more wonderful is God in his Providence towards men, the psalmist teaches us in song: "How majestic is your name throughout the world!. .. I look up at your heavens, shaped by your fingers, at the moon and the stars you set firm-what are human beings that you spare a thought for them, or the child of Adam that you care for him? Yet you have made him a little less than a God, you have crowned him with glory and beauty, made him Lord of the works of your hands, put all things under his feet" (Ps. 8,1.3-6). Man is then worth more than the sky and the earth because the Lord takes care of him with a very special love. When the Lord takes care of all his creation to the point that "not a sparrow is forgotten in God's sight" (Lk. 12,6) what to say then about his Providence for man who is only a little less than a god, crowned with glory and honour, established over all the works of his hands?

From where then does man take his dignity? Is it from his body? By no means. As for the body, we are like the animals which graze and which are themselves the food of worms. Our dignity comes from the soul. The Lord "blew the breath of life into his nostrils" (Gen. 2,7) and God created man in the image of himself, in the image of God he created him" (Gn. 1,27). Thus man has been made superior and more pleasing to God than all the creatures of the earth; excelling especially by his admirable power of knowing God, of serving him, praising him, loving him, and - by supernatural grace - of contemplating and possessing him for all eternity. Thus, the soul is worth more than all the stars which by comparison appear as grains of sand from the sea.

Do not believe however, that all souls are of the same value in the sight of God. As, in the material order, gold is worth more than iron, (p 41) pearls more than stones from the stream or as in the sky, some major stars shine brighter than others, so also certain souls are more precious in the eyes of God, those whom he himself has chosen for a particular purpose, whom he fills with special graces, who attain perfection by obedience to the movements of grace. It was thus with Abraham to whom a sign was given, and who became "the ancestor of all believers" (Rom. 4,11). It was thus with Moses whom God chose and sent into Egypt to liberate the people of Israel, "the man whom Yahweh knew face to face. What signs and wonders Yahweh caused him to perform" (Deut. 34,1O~11). It was thus with Joshua who "was filled with the spirit of wisdom for Moses had laid hands on him" (Deut. 34,9) and was made leader of Israel in the conquest of the promised land. It was thus with the prophets, the teachers, the apostles and the numberless saints whom God enlightened to be the light of the world and guides for others on the road of salvation. Such are, more or less, the souls of those whom God destines for the service of the altar. Of them it is said: "You are the salt of the earth ... you are the light of the world" (Mt. 5, 13-14), they must therefore have the flavour which the acts of all the virtues give and shine with the most brilliant beam of perfection. It is to you also, very dear sons, who have been chosen by God to be his ministers in the Church and the collaborators of his grace for the salvation of people, it is to you whom it is said: "In the same way your light must shine in people's sight, that seeing your good works, they may give praise to your Father in heaven" (Mt. 5,16). "Walk in my presence and be perfect" (Gn. 17,1).

I have spoken to you yesterday of the obligation which urges to reach at least some degrees of perfection. In this talk we will press this truth.

First, let us consider that God demands of certain men more perfection than others, but that he does not force anyone. He tells us: "Walk in my presence and be perfect '' (G.17,1); and yet if you wish you can forget it and walk on the road that leads to iniquity.

You will say: isn't God all-powerful? "He creates whatever he wishes" (Ps. 115,3). If God wishes that we be perfect, can we remain in imperfection? We can; the reason for it is because God, precisely, is (p 42) all-powerful and because he "creates whatever he wishes" (Ps. 115,3). Pay attention to me: though you may be at an age unaccustomed to metaphysical questions, you will perhaps understand this mystery. Be-cause God is all-powerful, he was able and he wished to create some beings without will and freedom and others endowed with liberty. The former, like the sun, the earth, the stars and even the animals devoid of reason, always obey God's will and are constrained by the physical laws of nature. The latter, subject to the moral law, follow their own will in accordance with God's laws or not. We, men, we are free, and it is in our power to accomplish the good that God demands of us, or to choose the evil he forbids. It should not be said that we are pushed to the evil in an invincible manner, following the corruption of our nature or temp-tations of the devil; for "you can trust", says the Apostle, "that God will not let you be put to the test beyond your strength, but with any trial will also provide a way out by enabling you to put up with it" (I Cor. 10,13). God himself said to the evil man who first shed the blood of the just: "If you are doing right, surely you ought to hold your head high! But if you are not doing right, sin is crouching at the door hungry to get you. You can still conquer it" (Gen. 4,7). He had therefore, the liberty and he kept it, he who had soiled his hands with the blood of his own brother owing to a corrupted will.

If the power of God was not infinite, but was like that of the kings of the world, God would not have been able to create man free or he would have to provide helpers to force man to always keep the Divine Law. For men would have been able to disrupt the work of God and ruin his Providence. But God is all-powerful and unchangeable. Whatever man does (we will see clearly at the end of the world, during the general judgement when all will be made manifest), God is always "he who does all he wishes" (Ps. 103 cited above). The sinner acts therefore, against himself, but not at all against God. God will be glorified in hell through his justice, as he will be glorified in heaven through his mercy, for "his faithful love is strong and his constancy never-ending" (Ps. 117,2).

(p 43)

What I say of the sinner, though I think and I hope that none of you are such, is true also of those whom God calls to perfection. They can become perfect by responding to grace; they can remain in their tepidity, asleep in their inaction. One point only should be added: if those, who are called to perfection, fly against the will of God to the point of sinning, they become the worst of sinners. The best fruits, when they rot, give off the worst smell. If they obey they are counted in the number of saints who are admired by both earth and heaven. "For it seems to me that God has put us apostles on show right at the end ... We have been exhibited as a spectacle to the whole universe, both angelic and human" (1 Cor. 4,9), says the Apostle. But if they scorn the grace of their vocation, let them be careful not to fall into the abyss with Lucifer: "How did you come to fall from the heavens, Daystar, son of Dawn" (Is. 14, 12). Or, like that undeserving apostle who was dishonest and a traitor and "hanged himself" (Mt. 27,5), "he fell head-long and burst open, and all his entrails poured out" (Acts 1, 18). "Alas for the man ... better for that man if he had never been born" (1 Mt. 26,24).

The Holy Fathers rightly say that there is nothing more horrible than the hell of priests: St. John Chrysostom has dreadful things to say against the sins of priests. Take care, therefore, well- beloved, not to fall, you also, from the holy place where you find yourselves into that place of gloom and confusion "where dimness and disorder hold sway, and light itself is like dead of night" (Job 10,22). To avoid that be careful never to neglect your perfection: "Walk in my presence and be perfect" (Gn. 17,1) for you are bound to perfection both because of your own dignity as well as because of the example which you are bound to give to people, as fellow-workers for the truth.

Because of your dignity you must radiate a certain perfection: the more precious something is, the more it must be decorated. Wouldn't a king be scorned by his people if he came out with torn and dirty clothes, wearing only iron bracelets on his arms and feet, walking in an unbecom-ing manner, etc.? The adornments of a king should be of gold, enhanced with precious stones and pearls. What would be the reaction if the palace (p 44) of the first magistrate was dusty or full of muck like a stable? Or if a Church building had no more beautiful decoration than the houses of country people? Would there not be some incongruity in all that? But dear sons, your dignity is beyond that of kings. You have become the house of God and "Temple of the Holy Spirit" (1 Cor. 6,19).

Perhaps, its not just like that, that the world judges ecclesiastical dignity. But what does the judgement of the world, which is already condemned, matter? For the "prince of this world is already condemned" (Jn . 16,11), says the Lord Jesus who has not prayed to the Father for the world. "It is for them that I pray, I am not praying for the world but for these you have given me: because they belong to you ... I passed your word on to them and the world hated them; because they belong to the world no more than I belong to the world" (Jn . 17,9.14).

What then does the judgement of the world matter? But before God--and it is in his eyes that truth is established--you are greater than kings. Your adornment must be of gold; virtues are the jewels, faith is the clothing. "Put on the full armour of God", says the Apostle, ... "al-ways carrying the shield of faith" (Eph. 6, 11. 16).

Your soul is the palace of the King of heaven who lives in you by his grace and wishes to remain in you in order that you remain in him. "Zacchaeus, come down. Hurry, because I am to stay at your house today" (Lk. 19,5). He physically entered the house of Zacchaeus, but he spiritually entered his soul sanctifying it. "Remain in me, as I in you", says Jesus, "As a branch cannot bear fruit all by itself, unless it remains part of the vine, neither can you unless you remain in me" (Jn . 15,14). Your soul therefore is the house of God if the grace of God lives in you, as I hope it does.

What more can one say? Even your body has become the palace of the King, temple of the Lord, veritable sanctuary and holy of holies, each time that Jesus Christ has come down into you bodily in the wonder-ful sacrament. To the others, Jesus gives himself sometimes, once or twice a year; but he comes to you frequently, and he wishes to give (p 45) himself every day. Furthermore, though your hands may not yet be con-secrated with holy oil, they already handle sacred things when you serve at the altar. You approach the priest in the venerable sacrifice; you exchange with him sacred words; you carry the incense and the light, the wine and the water, and your voice, by singing or reading the sacred scripture, celebrates the magnificence of God in the Church. Your body is therefore an instrument of sanctification.

How out of place it would be if these hands, which have touched sacred things, were to be soiled by an immodest touch! If this voice which has proclaimed thousands of times the holiness of God, were to be used for filthy language, iniquitous lies or unjust detractions! If after having eaten the bread of angels, you were to find delight in the husks of swine! No, no! To you also it is said: "You have been sanctified and have become holy because I am holy" (Lk. 11,44). You are the servants of the priest: what would be sacrilege for the priest would therefore be, at least, very wrong for you. The priest would be sacrilegous if he dared to celebrate Mass or a sacrament in the state of mortal sin. For you it would be at least very improper if you were to serve Mass in the state of mortal sin--that would not please God--or if you sang in the choir words which did not correspond to your behaviour. "Take care", says the Bishop while blessing the cantor, "that you believe in your heart what your mouth chants. And what you believe in your heart, prove by your works" (Old Roman Pontifical).

Really, very dear sons, you have read in the books of Moses how many ceremonies were carried out in the Old Testament for the purifica-tion of the Levites, so that they could serve ritually in the Temple of Solomon. But what did the Temple of Solomon and the Tabernacle of Moses contain? Altars of stone on which were offered as victims rams and calves; an altar of perfumes where incense and fragrant ointment were burning; a golden candle-stick; the tables of the Law in the Ark of Alliance, with the rod of Aaron and a measure of manna. You, you serve in the Temple of the New Law where every day there is immolated, not worthless victims, but the immaculate Lord prefigured by these victims; (p 46) you serve in a Church where in place of the altar of perfumes there is He who is the perfume drawing to himself the lover of purity: "Delicate is the fragrance of your perfume, your name is an oil poured out, and that is why girls love you. Draw me in your footsteps, let us run" (Sg. 1,3.4): there is not found there "a lampstand of pure gold, ... in such a way that they light up the space in front of it (the lampstand)" (Ex. 25,31.37) but he who is "the real light that gives light to everyone; he was coming into the world" (Jn . 1,9) and who said of himself "I am the light of the world" (Jn . 8,12); it is not a matter of slabs of the Law, but of the author of the Law who "alone is legislator and only judge" (James 4,12); nor of the rod of Aaron kept "as a warning to the rebellious" of Israel (Numbers 17,25), but of him who is a "God not of disorder but of peace" (1 Cor. 14,33); "priest forever according to the order of Mel-chisedech" (Ps. 109,4); not of perishable manna which, after only one day "bred maggots and smelled foul. .. (and which melted) once the sun grew hot" (Ex. 16,20-21), but of daily and substantial bread, the true bread coming from heaven which is given to all in abundance and never lacking: "Your fathers ate manna in the desert", says Jesus, "as scripture says: he gave them bread from heaven to eat... In all truth I tell you, it was not Moses who gave them bread from heaven, it is my Father who gives you the bread from heaven ... I am the bread of life" (Jn . 6,3lff).

As much as our law surpasses that of Moses, so much, you see, very dear sons, must the sanctity of men of the Church surpass the purity of the levites. It isn't sufficient therefore, to flee sin "as before a serpent" (Si. 21,22), to practise the ordinary laws; but "shun every form of evil" (1 Thess. 5,22). "Be holy, for I, Yahweh, your God, am holy (Lev. 19.2)."Do not make yourselves detestable with all these swarming crea-tures, do not defile yourselves with them" (Lv. 1l,44)--that is to say with all worldly imperfection; but "as obedient children, be yourselves holy in all your activity, after the mould of the Holy One who calls us" (1 Peter 1,15). You must strive to acquire at least some perfection; to aspire to the summit of virtue in order to arrive at some degree, at least; you must progress from virtue to virtue, as you advance in sacred orders (p 47) degree by degree, so you rise degree by degree in perfection right up until you attain "the mountain of God, at Horeb" (1 Kings 19,8), that is to say the altar, adorned with all the virtues which are becoming for priests.

Meanwhile, sons, "let no one disregard you because you are young, but be an example to all the believers in the way you speak and behave, and in your love, your faith and your purity ... Be conscientious about what you do and what you teach. Persevere in this and in that way you will save both yourself and those who listen to you" (1 Tim. 4,12-16).

What is said to priests is applied to you already in a certain way: "Give a shepherd's care to the flock of God that is entrusted to you ... be an example for the flock" (I Pet. 5,2-3). The priests must be the models for the flock, that is to say for the Christian people, in such a way that, seeing them, the people have under their eyes a living example of the law of Christ. Experience shows that the people are more perfect if their priests are more perfect.

This is easily understood. The people continually see the priests in their sacred functions which presuppose sanctity. If however, they see the priests dissipated in mind and heart, or doing wrong, they would think that that wrong is of little importance or even they would believe it compatible with the Christian life. Priests in vain preach truth and holiness if they behave wrongly or badly. Men take in more from what they see than from what they hear; they imitate more easily actions than listen to sermons. That is indeed why Jesus himself began by acting before teaching, as the sacred text has it: " ... Everything that Jesus had done and taught" (Acts 1,1). We must first do and then teach. Example precedes, preaching follows. Those who preach well, but do wrong, must be called, not preachers but seducers. They scandalize the people whom they should edify. The people accuse them of lying and trickery: if the priests themselves believed what they teach, they say, would they not be the first to put it into practice? They denounce therefore the veracity and the faith of such priests and, easily make the same accusations against (p 48) other priests, and against religion itself. Thus little by little the faith diminishes and sometimes even disappears entirely from the people. If the faith is lost then what kind of behaviour can one expect? That is why Jesus himself compares the bad priests to the wolf and the thief who manage to enter the flock of the Lord "only to steal and kill and destroy" (Jn . 10,10).

Very dear sons, what is written of priests concerns you also in a certain way, as I have said. You have already begun to be close to priests, to participate in their honours and obligations. You are sitting with them in an exalted position in the Church and the people also see you doing a sacred function. In fact, let us question the Christians; all will reply that you must not only be more perfect than the other youths of your age, but even that you must be the most perfect of all the faithful of this region. Perhaps they may be mistaken in their favourable judge-ment. He who alone "sees the heart" (Is. 16,7) who "alone discerns hearts and minds, God, the upright" (Ps 7,10) knows that certain Christians unknown to us are by far more perfect than we ourselves, whom he considers as sinners. However, such is and such must be the opinion of people. The others, they do not see them; you, they see in the 'lime-light' "so that people may see the light when they come in" (Lk. 11,33). If then they detect something out of the way in you, they will say: this is how the most perfect behave; how much more can we act and live like that. You must therefore also be the model for the flock and a living norm for action.

My little children, it is to you also that it is said: "You are the light of the world, you are the salt of the earth" (Mt. 5,13-14). If the light goes out the people will wander in the darkness, without being able to distinguish the good from the evil and they will fall into the ditch. If (the light) flickers, for want of oil, even without going out, what good is it? Even if your soul is not enveloped in the darkness of mortal sin, but if, due to lack of the oil of sanctity, you only give out a dim light, you become as useless. Purchase therefore, the oil, like the young wise vir-gins, so that your lamps do not die out, and so that you do not arrive (p 49) late, to hear in answer to your call "Lord, Lord open to us!" the response "I do not know you" (Mt. 25,11-12). Buy the oil of charity, and "In the same way your light must shine in people's sight, so that seeing your good works, they may give praise to your Father in Heaven" (Mt. 5,16). Thus, all those who follow you will be able to walk with a sure step, for "it is a narrow gate and a hard road that leads to life" (Mt. 7,14).

"You are the salt of the earth, but if salt loses its taste, what can make it salty again? It is good for nothing, and can only be thrown out to be trampled under people's feet (Mt. 5,13). The people must be flavoured by the salt of good example; otherwise they will be insipid for God who will go as far as vomiting them like food without taste. Let us therefore preach Christ by our behaviour, more than by talk. Let our life be a representation of the life of Jesus Christ, so that we can say to the people with the Apostle "Take me as your pattern, just as I take Christ for mine" (1 Cor. 11,1).

Above all let us imitate Christ in his hidden life, which was the greatest part. What do we know of the first thirty years of the life of Jesus? Almost nothing. From that space of time only one word of Jesus to Mary and Joseph is preserved for us, but how precious: "Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?" (Lk. 2, 49). This permits us to know his unceasing union with God the Father and already the truth, of what he maintained regarding himself before the unbelieving Jews, is apparent. "I always do what pleases him" (Jn . 8,29), that is to say what pleases the Father. And in the meantime what was he doing? He wasn't preaching or teaching. He didn't discuss, he did'nt manifest his power to work miracles, but "in-creased in wisdom, in stature, and in favour with God and with people" (Lk. 2,51). He lived as the Father wished him to live during that time, in humility, with Mary and Joseph: "He lived under their authority" (Lk. 2,51).

You must live thus with Jesus, very dear sons, going down into Nazareth, that is to say in withdrawal, retreat, far from the turmoil (p 50) and the restlessness of the world, in a seminary in order to prepare in prayer, study, humility, obedience, and the practice of the other virtues, right up to the time when you publicly give witness to the Word of God. "Everything that Jesus had done and taught from the begining" (Acts 1,1).

Practise the law and do penance in order to be able then to be the heralds of the law and the preachers of penance to the people. It is necessary to prepare the tool before the workers can use it. If it is not suitable the artisan rejects it or the work is imperfect. You must be instruments of salvation for the people, and the co-operators in the ser-vice of Christ; and there is a third reason for which you must work with all your strength at your formation while you seek perfection.

Surely, God would have been able to save men without the ministry of other men, but he has not willed that: "On each one of us God's favour has been bestowed in whatever way Christ allotted it. .. and to some the gift was that they should be apostles; to some prophets; to some evangelists; to some pastors; and teachers, to knit God's holy people together for the work of service to build up the Body of Christ" (Eph. 4,7,11-12), which is the Church" (Col. 1,24). It was his wish to institute the priesthood: it is by his mediation that the graces of salvation would be poured out. In the priesthood, he has willed several orders which correspond to various functions, and all of which are ordered to "building up the community" (1 Cor. 4,12).

Priests co-operate more directly and more effectively, it is true, than other clerics in the salvation of people, by preaching the word of God, the administration of the sacraments, the offering of the sacrifice for the living and the dead. But one becomes a priest only by raising oneself progressively to this supreme dignity by passing through the lower orders. These are then a certain sharing of the priesthood and the clerics participate in the merits of priests. As you have already begun to become priests, so to speak, begin also to practise the priestly virtues so as to possess them habitually when you receive Holy Orders. You will then (p 51) hear the Lord, who has already called you to the clerical state, say to you these sweet-sounding words: "Well done, good and trustworthy ser-vant; you have shown you are trustworthy in small things; I will trust you with greater" (Mt. 25,21). You will hear Jesus invite you: "My friend move up higher" (Lk. 14,10).

It is true Lord Jesus, it is true: to be your disciples, to be your friends we must be perfect. We must at least strive to obtain some perfec-tion. Our dignity, the edification of the people, the sacred functions that we perform daily oblige us to perfection. Among these who actually listen to me, no one would challenge the truth and the rightness of what I say. But perhaps someone thinks to himself: What to do? Can I become perfect? It is futile for me to think of perfection when I know my own weakness. How often have I made resolutions which I never kept! Use-less and wrong, "My days are over, so are my plans" (Job 17,11) and "so that person ends up worse off than before" (Mt. 12,45). A powerful concupiscence pushes me to evil; the occasions of sin return every day; the devil tempts me continually and the flesh rebels against the spirit! Alas! I have sometimes fallen into the ditch and "wickedness comes, and with contempt, dishonour" (Ps. 18,3). How can I think of perfection when I am a sinner, unfortunate and miserable? I do not dare lift my eyes up to heaven. My "stomach clings to the earth" (Pr. 43,26). Thus glued to the earth how can I be raised to the life of the angels?

My sons, do not dare to think like that; have great confidence in God. "I am the powerful God" (Gn. 35,11), says the Lord, "No, the arm of Yahweh is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear!" (Is. 59,1). "Nothing is impossible to God" (Lk. 1,37). What we cannot do by our own power, God will do in us by his grace. It is true: "The kingdom of heaven has been subjected to violence and the violent are taking it by storm" (Mt. 11,12). Violence must be utilized to conquer the World, for us to conquer ourselves; "Is not human life on earth just conscript service" (Jb. 7,1). "Someone who enters an athletic contest Wins only if he competes in the sport" (2 Tim. 2,5). But it is the Lord (p 52) who will fight with us and will give us victory "for it is no one else who fights for us, if it is not you, our God" (Liturgy). "Whoever trusts in Yahweh is secure" (Pr. 29,25). "If God is for us who can be against us" (Rom. 8,31).

Let us have confidence, sons, and let us not even think anymore of our past sins, unless to weep for them and to humiliate ourselves in ashes, dressed in penitential garb. Let us not even dream of despairing of perfection, for "God can raise children for Abraham from these stones" (Mt. 3,9). "He has used the power of his arm ... " (Lk, 1,51). Who will speak of the power of grace? God has given us the grace of a call to perfection; run in a manner that will win you the crown. Say with the Apostle: "I am racing towards the finishing point to win the prize of God's heavenly call in Christ Jesus" (Philipp. 3,14). If you have fallen what is there to be astonished at, since you are the sons of Adam? But God has given you his grace and already you are risen. "For though the upright man falls seven times, he gets up again" (Pr. 24,16).

Even if it happens that you fall again, because of weakness, do not lose hope and confidence in God, my sons. Ordinarily, God does not withdraw the grace of vocation because of sins of weakness, even if these sins were grave. "He knows of what we are made, he remembers that we are dust" (Ps. 103,14). What should then be done? Rise up im-mediately to humiliate yourself before God, to do penance, to weep; but never to lose hope, to flee from, to abandon God. "In you, Yahweh, I have taken refuge, let me never be put to shame" (Pr. 31,2).

It would be another matter if our sins were sins of malice, that is to say if with the whole heart, without concupiscence or temptation push-ing us into sin, through hatred of God and pure complaisance in evil, we choose sin. Then I accept, one should fear absolutely that the grace of vocation is squandered and lost completely. Never let any of you have such malice. If, unfortunately, some one sins, he will sin because of a strong temptation or because of something disturbing his. mind and weakening his heart; but let no one be complacent in sin. Realizing with (p 53) horror the state of sin, he will have recourse, very quickly, to a priest in order to purify himself in the bath of penance. Do not fear too much, sons. Fear is good, with which "wisdom begins" (Ps. 110,10); but charity is better, "it is the perfect bond" (Col. 3,14). Love God with your whole heart and do not fear.

What then! Raise your eyes and see. Enter into heaven in spirit, where we hope to enter in reality at the end of this life. Open your eyes and see the "huge number, impossible for anyone to count, of people from every nation, race, tribe and language. They were standing in front of the Lamb, dressed in white robes and holding palms in their hands" (Apoc. 7,9). Already they reign with Christ "and they will reign for ever and ever" (Apoc. 22,5). And yet, they have lived before that, like us, in "this vale of tears" (Salve Regina). They were men like us, "banished children of Eve" (ibid), dragging a body of corruption, weighed down by concupiscence and subject to the temptations of the devil. They, through the grace of Christ, have been victorious. Why should we be overcome, we who enjoy the same grace? "You see, God's grace has been revealed to save the whole human race" (Tit. 2,11), "so that jus-tified by his grace, we should become heirs in hope of eternal life" (Tit. 3,2).

St. Augustine had a vision: the heavens had been opened to him and he saw the army of the saints reigning there for centuries. Admiring and contemplating so many saints, both men and women, who, however were once weak in nature like him in this life, he asked himself: "Can you not do what they have done"? and he took the firm resolution to honour, love and serve God alone, like the saints whom he saw in heaven had honoured and loved him here on earth. Let us speak and act in the same way, very dear sons. Many, who had perhaps a worse nature than Ours, Who had not obtained so many graces as we have received to fight against the same passions in the course of similar temptations, are in heaven. Certain young people have pleased God and have been taken away "in case evil warps their understanding" (Wis. 4,11). Others are old Who have persevered for long years in self-renunciation and penance. (p 54) "All enthroned in the presence of God" (Apoc. 11,16) intercede for us, each one holding "a harp, and had a golden bowl full of incense which are the prayers of the saints" (Apoc. 5,8). There are present numerous clerics and priests, confessors and martyrs, virgins and widows, who have all "drunk of the cup of the Lord and have become his friends" (Liturgy). What they have been able to do can we not do? Would you not be capable of carrying out what these men and women have accomplished? You would be capable of it with grace. "Let us therefore be grateful and use our gratitude to worship God in the way that pleases him, in rever-ence and fear" (Heb. 12,28).

I pray, very dear sons, that "this grace of God may always be with you" (Ap. 22,21).

Amen.
PARTICULIER EXAMEN I

(p 55)

Thursday

A reading from the Gospel of St. Matthew: from the beginning of Ch.5:

"Seeing the crowds, Jesus ... " right up to v. 16 inclusive.

Let us go in spirit to Nazareth and into the holy house where Jesus, Mary and Joseph live. Let us admire the continual works of perfection accomplished in the Holy Family and let us praise God who is so glorified, beyond all measure, in the House of Nazareth. Let us humiliate ourselves as our life is full of imperfections, not to say malice.

If our secret actions, performed within the walls of our dwelling, were to be suddenly recorded, what kind of evidence would they reveal? God sees all of them and judges them for "No sage is as wise as You" (Ezk. 28,3).

While it is so important that we "be held in good repute by others" (1 Tim. 3,7) what kind of testimony would those intimate friends who visit us regularly render about us?

Have we been for some an occasion of scandal? --when we should be for everybody a good example, as the Apostle recommends to his disciple Titus: "And you yourself set an example of good works" (Tit. 2,7).

Reckoning, at least from the day we gave ourselves to the Church (Old Rom. Pontifical), have we refrained not only from sin but also from imperfections which are absolutely unbecoming to clerics? It is especially to these that Christ also addressed himself when he said: "You must set (p 56) no bounds to your love, just as your heavenly Father sets no bounds to his" (Mt. 5,48).

Have we been thinking that it would be sufficient for us to refrain from sin, without being obliged to give to people the example of a life of perfection? --when we should be "salt of the earth" and "light of the world" (Mt. 5,13.14).

Since God "will always be true" (Rom. 3,4) and since "The Lord hates ... a false witness who lies with every breath" (Pr. 6,16-19) have we taken care to see that the external perfection we manifest in our lives, exists truly in our soul? -- for fear that the anathemas pronounced by the Lord Jesus are applied to us: "Alas for you scribes and pharisees, you hypocrites, you are like whitewashed tombs" (Mt. 23,27).

Has spiritual laziness resulted in our making light of the perfection to which the Apostle exhorted the brothers in saying: "I urge you then brothers ... if it is a gift of ... encouraging let him encourage ... in the service of the Lord. Work not half-heartedly but with conscientiousness and an eager spirit. Be joyful in hope, persevere in hardship; keep pray-ing regularly; share with any of God's holy people who are in need, look for opportunities to be hospitable" (Rom. 12, 1.8.11).

o Lord Jesus Christ, up to now, I have been lukewarm, lazy, guilty; but have pity on me, very good Saviour of men, and by the grace you give during a retreat, make me take on a spirit of fervour and perfection, getting rid of apathy: "Send out your breath ... you renew the face of the earth" (Ps. 104,30). "Renew within me a resolute spirit" (Ps. 50,12).

The angel of the Lord declared unto Mary

_ and she conceived by the Holy Ghost.

Hail Mary ...

Behold the hand-maid of the Lord,

_ be it done unto me according to your Word.

Hail Mary ... (p 57)

And the Word was made flesh - and He dwelt amongst us. Hail Mary ...

Pray for us 0 Holy Mother of God,

\- that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Let us pray

pour forth we beseech thee your grace into our hearts

that we to whom the Incarnation of Christ

was made known by the message of an angel

may by his Passion and Cross

be brought to the glory of his Resurrection.

Through the same Christ our Lord, Amen.
THIRD TALK

(p 58)

Thursday, 16 hours

"Anyone who is upright through faith will live" (Rom. 1,17)

Very dear sons, there is hardly a page of Holy Scripture which does not call to mind the obligation of a life of faith. There are, as a matter of fact, two lives in man, one the natural life and the other, the super-natural life. The natural life we have in common with the animals. As far as rational beings are concerned we have it in common with pagans, who can have some natural notion of God, but who will never know him as he is, will never see him face to face, since they do nothing in this life which can merit eternal life. However well the pagans do, their acts remain natural and are valueless as far as obtaining the eternal life of heaven which comes from union with God, is concerned.

The supernatural life is that where man, by faith, is lifted up to God and rendered capable of knowing him, of possessing him in charity, on earth by grace and in heaven by intuitive vision. The saints enjoy per-fectly the glory of heaven, and the actions of the faithful, which are accomplished on earth with this in view, are ordered to eternal life. It is this life above all which is pleasing to God in us for he has created us for himself; he has made us in his image and likeness (cf Gen. 1,26) so that with him we may rejoice in the glory of heaven for all eternity. This is the life which the righteous live, and we who wish to be the friends of God and ought to please him in everything, must also live this life.

Above all let us go to God, "as we go in, let us be sincere in heart and filled with faith" (Heb. 10,22), that is to say with such confidence, concerning all that God has revealed, that we believe God more than our own eyes. Sometimes, as a matter of fact, our eyes can delude us, and indeed really deceive us; God cannot deceive us, for he has an abhorrence of lies: "God will always be true" (Roms. 3,4); he is "the (p 59) way, the truth and the life" (Jn . 14,6), and he cannot deceive us since he knows everything, sees everything and directs everything: "Everything is uncovered and stretched fully open to the eyes of the one to whom we must give account of ourselves" (Heb. 4,13).

Nothing, therefore, is more firm, nothing is more sure than the word of God: "The word of the Lord remains for ever. And this word is the Gospel that has been brought to you" (1 Pt. 1,25). "At many moments in the past and by many means, God spoke to our ancestors, through the prophets, but in our time, the final days, he has spoken to us in the person of his Son" (Heb. 1,1-2) who "has descended from heaven" (Nicene creed) and "dwelt amongst us" (Jn. 1,14). "There he proclaimed the Gospel from God saying: 'the time is fulfilled, and the Kingdom of God is close at hand; repent and believe the Gospel" (Mk. 1,14-15).

Therefore, very dear sons, "Study the Scriptures" (Jn . 5,39) because "all Scripture is inspired by God and useful" (2 Tim. 3,16). "For no prophecy ever came from human initiative. When people spoke for God it was the "Holy Spirit that moved them" (2 Pt. 1,21). Nevertheless, although God has really spoken to us through the prophets and the apostles and by his own son our Lord Jesus Christ, although he himself has inspired the words of Scripture, we have need of an infallible in-terpretation in order that our faith be confident and that we may be able to distinguish without hesitation what is the word of God and what is merely the word of man. For everything has not been written, and in that which is written there are things which are not authentic, and in that which is authentic there are things which are difficult to understand. St. John brings his gospel to an end in this way: "There was much else that Jesus did; if it were written down in detail, I do not suppose the world itself would hold all the books that would be written (Jn . 21,25). And Jeremiah, the prophet of the Lord, said to the false prophets: "Horrible, disgustings things are happening in the land: the prophets prophesy falsely and the priests exploit the people. And my people love it. But When the end comes, what will you do?" (Jer. 5,30-31). Therefore the words of Christ: "Beware of false prophets" (Mt. 7,15). Finally, Peter exhorts the Christians: " ... Our brother who is so dear to us, told you this When he wrote to you with the wisdom that he was given. He makes (p 60) this point too in his letters as a whole whenever he touches on these things. In all his letters there are of course some passages which are hard to understand, and these are ones that uneducated and unbalanced people distort, in the same way as they distort the rest of Scripture --to their own destruction" (2 Pt. 3,15-16).

From this it follows: Holy Scripture is the true word of God, but not every word, and it demands sometimes an explanation or a sure and authentic interpretation so that, without risk of error, it may be known with certainty and understood rightly. But Jesus has said: "I shall not leave you orphans" (Jn . 14,18). "I shall ask the Father, and he will give you another Paraclete, to be with you for ever ... The Paraclete, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything" (Jn . 14, 15.16.26). "And look, I am with you always; yes to the end of time" (Mt. 28,20). In the Acts of the Apostles we read: "When Pentecost Day came round, they had all met together, when suddenly there came from heaven, a sound as of a violent wind which filled the entire house in which they were sitting: and there appeared to them tongues as of fire; these separated and came to rest on the head of each of them. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit (Acts 2: 1-4).

In this way the promise of Christ has been accomplished; the Church has been constituted without fault and infallible, what St. Paul calls: "The pillar and ground of truth" (1 Tim. 3,15 Vulg.) The Church is this supreme authority which without any risk of error, makes known to us everything that belongs to the catholic faith, whether written or not. We must all obey the Church. If anyone, says Christ, "refuses to listen to the community, treat him like a pagan or a tax-collector" (Mt. 18,17). Jesus himself placed Peter at the Head of the Church, while declaring to him: "Simon, Son of Jonah, you are a happy man! Because it was not flesh and blood that revealed this to you but my Father in heaven. So now I say to you: you are Peter and on this rock I will build my Church. And the gates of the underworld can never hold out against it. I will give to you the keys of the Kingdom of heaven: whatever you bind on earth shall (p 61) be considered bound in heaven; whatever you loose on earth shall be considered loosed in heaven" (Mt. 16, 17ff). Finally, after his resurrec-tion from the dead, he said to him: "Feed my lambs ... feed my sheep" (Jn . 21, 15.17). Let us say therefore, very dear sons, I believe all that the Church believes, for, "whoever wishes to be saved must above all, hold the catholic faith; he who does not keep it entire and pure, will go, without any doubt, to his eternal loss" (Symbole S. Athanasius. FC N°9).

This faith is necessary for all. Without it men are pagans or heretics and they are destined "for the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels" (Mt. 25,41). But it is not sufficient for us. It is not sufficient to have the common faith, it is necessary to live the faith. "The upright man finds life through faith" (Rom. 1,17). The faith must be our food and drink. As the food on which men live becomes their very substance, so also must the faith become our substance, our nature.

Very dear sons, we must have faith like that of our father Abraham, "It was by faith that Abraham, when put to the test, offered up Isaac. He offered to sacrifice his only son" (Heb. 11,17). "Abraham put his faith in God, and this was counted as making him justified; and that is why he was called the friend of God" (Jas. 2,23). "In this way he be-came ... the ancestor of all uncircumcised believers" (Rom. 4,11). We must have faith like that of the apostles and disciples of Christ, who scorned the world to follow Christ: "We have left all and have followed you" (Mt. 19,27); a faith like that which made the holy martyrs stronger than death, and made them exult with joy in the midst of torments, when "they have washed their robes white again in the blood of the lamb" (Apoc. 7,14); a faith like that which made conquerors of the world so many confessors, pontiffs, priests and virgins: "An immense crowd" of saints (Apoc. 7,9) who "put on faith and love for a breast-plate, and hope of salvation for a helmet" (1 Thess. 5,8), "conquered kingdoms, did what is right" (Heb. 11,33). We must have that faith about which the Apostle speaks: "I look on everything as so much rubbish if only I can have Christ" (Philippians 3,8). Stand your ground therefore, I say it to you again with the Apostle: "So stand your ground, with truth buckled around your waist, and integrity for a breast-plate, wearing for shoes on (p 62) your feet the eagerness to spread the Gospel of peace and always carrying the shield of faith so that you can use it to put out the burning arrows of the evil one" (Eph. 6,14). For "everything is possible for him who believes" (Mk. 9,23). "Without faith it is impossible to please God". You certainly want to please God; you want to be worthy of your voca-tion; you want, in fulfilling your obligations, to obtain a certain perfec-tion, have faith therefore, increase your faith by imploring with the Saints: "Increase our faith" (Lk. 17,5).

Certainly, sometimes, during your life, the sun will become obscure, the "great gale" (Mk. 4,37) of temptation will arise --it will envelop your hearts which will be agitated like the sea by a violent wind. The passions will be excited, the mind will be in darkness, the will becomes weak, your strength will be exhausted and very soon you will be lost "if you have not faith" (Mk. 4,40). What can be done then? Full of confidence you will cry to the Lord saying: "Lord save us! we perish" (Mt. 8,25). Such an invocation is excellent; but faith would be better: "Why are you afraid, men of little faith?" (Mt. 8,26). "Son, why did you doubt?" (Mt. 14,31). What can the devil do if you have a firm foundation of faith? "He can bark but not bite", says Saint Augustine(1). "Have faith in God. I tell you solemnly, if anyone says to this mountain, 'get up and throw yourself into the sea' with no hesitation in his heart but believing that what he says will happen, it will be done for him" (Mk. 11,22-23).

The mountain of which Christ speaks, very dear sons, can be under-stood as the devil and his temptations. Listen therefore to Bede the Venerable: "The devil is sometimes called mountain because of the pride by which he rebelled against God and wanted to make himself like the Most High; the mountain, at the command of those who are strong in the faith, is removed from the land and thrown into. the sea when ... the impure spirit is driven from the heart of those who are oriented towards life'(2). It is therefore difficult for someone with a strong faith to sin mortally. You commit sin? Perhaps you have not lost faith absolutely; but you have only a weak faith

(p 63)

Very dear sons, you must not only conquer temptation for your own salvation, but you must work in some way for the salvation of your brothers. You are called for that purpose, it is for that, that God has set you apart in view of your admirable vocation. You must enlighten the pagans, bring back the heretics, strengthen the Catholics. To do that, have faith. You must combat the world and conquer it; but have confi-dence: "This is the victory over the world, our faith" (1 Jn . 5,4). Do not put your trust in human means. Neither money, nor knowledge, nor eloquence, nor cleverness in business will be of any effective help, "What matters is faith that makes its power felt through love" (Gal. 5,6). Do not build on foundations other than the foundation of faith. The Apostle says it: "For the foundation, nobody can lay any other than the one which has already been laid, that is Jesus Christ" (1 Cor. 3,11). Every-thing that is not built on such a foundation is like a house built on sand. "Rain came down, floods rose, gales blew and struck that house, and it fell, and what a fall it had" (Mt. 7,26.27). The rains, these are the wealth and the abundance of the things of this world; the rivers are the vehement passions which carry us along like torrents; the winds are the evil spirits, that is to say the demons, who breathe their breath of fire to snatch and to burn the harvest in the field of the Lord. All these demons conspire to destroy our work and they would do it totally if it was not founded on Christ who is the "Alpha and Omega", "the beginning and the end" (Apoc. 21,6), the foundation, "The stone rejected by the builders has proved to be the key stone" (1 Pet. 2,7; Acts 4,11). Working on that foundation, very dear sons, you have nothing to fear. Your house will be built "on the rock. Rain came down, floods rose, gales blew and hurled themselves against that house, and it did not fall: it was founded on a rock" (Mt. 7,24-25). "That rock was Christ" (I Cor. 10,4).

The saints of all ages acted in this way. Read chapter 11 of the Letter to the Hebrews whose Apostle defines and recommends faith from the actions of the saints of the Old and New Testaments. All have built on faith for glory. As for us "We are the children of the saints, and look for that life which God will give to those who never change their (p 64) faith from him" (Tob. 2,18 Vulg.). By baptism we have become "the children of God" (1 Jn. 3,2), "the children of promise" (Gal. 4,28), the "heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ" (Rom. 8,17), capable of intuitive vision in the world to come, thanks to the supernatural life that we have found again through water and the Spirit (ct Jn 3,5). We must therefore live the life of faith. But now we are called to perfection; we have become the ministers of Jesus and collaborators of his grace. Because of that we must be imbued with faith to such a point that everything in us and outside of us radiates it. Whether we read, study, work, speak, it is our faith which must appear in all. "If you are a speaker, speak in words which seem to come from God" (1 Pt. 4,11), says St. Peter; and St. Paul: "The living should live no longer for themselves, but for him who died and was raised to life for them" (2 Cor. 5,15). What St. Paul was preach-ing to others, he did himself, for he says to the Galatians: "I live now not with my own life but with the life of Christ who lives in me" (Gal. 2,20); and to the Philippians: "Life to me of course is Christ, but then death would bring me something more" (Philipp. 1,21).

Since the life of faith is so important, let us search for the signs that permit us to know if our life is only natural or if already we have taken on the supernatural life of the saints. For that, sons, examine your hearts and "carefully observe the effects of nature and grace, because they operate very differently" (Imitation of Christ Bk 3 Ch. 54 translated by Betty 1. Knott, p. 197). The natural life, being close to animal life, draws us continually towards the world. It wishes to possess this world as if this world was its own end. "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we shall be dead" (Is. 22,13), those whose "God is their belly" (Philipp. 3,19) will say "and this is the false argument they use: our life is short and dreary; ... come then, let us enjoy the good things of today, let us use created things with the zest of youth: take our fill of the dearest wines and perfumes, on no account forgo the flowers of spring but crown ourselves with rosebuds before they wither, no meadow excluded from our orgy" (Ws. 2, 1.6ff). Faith, on the other hand, speaks in this way: "Brothers, this is what I mean: our time is growing short. Those who have wives (p 65) should live as though they had none, and those who mourn should live as though they had nothing to mourn for; those who are enjoying life should live as though there were nothing to laugh about; those whose life is buying things should live as though they had nothing of their own; and those who have to deal with the world should not become engrossed in it. I say this because the world as we know it is passing away" (1 Cor. 7,29ff). "Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is close at hand" (Mt. 3,2). "Happy the poor in spirit... Happy the gentle ... Happy those who mourn ... Happy those who hunger and thirst for what is right ... Happy the merciful. .. Happy the pure in heart. .. Happy the peace-makers ... Happy those who are persecuted in the cause of right. .. Happy are you when people abuse you and speak all kinds of calumny against you on my account. Rejoice and be glad" (Mt. 5,3ff). Thus Grace and Nature, Faith and the natural life speak two opposing languages. What is good for one is bad for the other and what one repels the other welcomes.

This difference shows through all the events of life; it emerges more or less by reason of a faith more or less strong. For example, look at a sick man who no longer has a living faith. He complains, he is sad, he is afraid, he puts his trust in remedies more than in God, sometimes he murmurs against Divine Providence, he forgets God, abandons prayer; let death come and he dies either with a troubled mind and heart or in spiritual stupor and indifference to the things of the soul, "And after-wards shall be as though we had never been" (Ws. 2,2) "For there is no future for the evil the lamp of the wicked will go out (Pr. 24,20). But draw near to the bed of the person with a living faith, whose supernatural life increases as the life of the body dies out. He blesses God and he is patient in suffering: "Now this trial the Lord therefore permitted to hap-pen to him, that an example might be given to posterity of his patience, as also of holy Job" (Th. 2,12 Vulg.) and we know that "in all this misfortune Job committed no sin" (Job. 1,22). If he speaks he .has only pious words in his mouth and he has hope even if the others are afraid Even if his tongue loses the power of pronouncing words, his heart is awake and prays. The tongue is silenced, the soul speaks to the 'spouse': (p 66) "I sleep but my heart is awake" (Song of Song 5,2). Everything is ready "to enter with him to the wedding hall". He looks forward in joy to the day of his liberation. "I want to be gone and to be with Christ" (Philipp. 1,23) "for we know that when the tent that we live in on earth is folded up, there is a house built by God for us, an everlasting home, not made by human hands" (2 Cor. 5,1).

Living faith, very dear sons, is incompatible with immorality. It is not possible that a heart depraved and obscured by the stain of sin will shine with the living light of heaven. A dirty window distorts the light of the sun and a damaged mirror gives a deformed image. The very pure light of faith cannot illuminate a heart full of defiled smoke. When the smoke rises up from the earth, the sun pales and even sometimes disap-pears altogether. If the sun of justice is hidden in us, immediately faith disappears or rather grows dim and clouds over in some way. The psal-mist warrants that the incredulity of the impious begins by the corruption of the heart: "The fool has said in his heart, there is no God" (Ps. 14,1). Moreover, God punishes a decrease in faith by giving men up to their depraved desires, while permitting the corruption of their hearts: "That is why God left them to their own filthy enjoyments and the practices with which they dishonour their own bodies" (Rom. 1,24). Thus there is an intimate relation between purity of heart and the life of faith.

Let us reject therefore, very dear sons, "let us give up all the things we prefer to do under cover of the dark, let us arm ourselves and appear in the light" (Rom. 13,12). Let us first give up all those works of impurity which are accomplished in the darkness and by which man imitates "the mules and the horses which do not understand" (Ps. 31,9). Let us give up also all the other perverse and vain desires. Let us give up the world with its false delights and its illusions. Let us give up pride, vain glory, envy, anger, greed and all these things which spoil and are unworthy of the children of Saints. What are these things? "The fashion of this world passeth away" (1 Cor. 7,31). The fashion of this world: how well it is said. It is not a question of reality but of a passing shadow which passes but does not come back. Even if we live one hundred years what would (p 67) all that be? For no one escapes death. "Remember that death will not delay, and that you have never seen Sheol's contract" (Si. 14,12). "In all, Adam lived for nine hundred and thirty years, then he died ... In all Mathusala lived nine hundred and sixty years; then he died" (Gen. 5,5.27). Thus it is said of other Patriarchs and can be said of all men who have lived since the beginning of the world right up to us. Thus it will soon be said of each one of us! he has been. "The fashion of this world passes" (1 Cor. 7,31). Men, wealth, joys, everything passes and nothing remains after death.

Listen to the words of the wicked in hell: "Clearly we have strayed ... we have left no path of lawlessness or ruin unexplored, we have crossed deserts where there was no track, but the way of the Lord is one we have never known. What good has arrogance been to us? What has been the purpose of our riches and boastfulness? All these things have passed like a shadow, passed like a fleeting rumour. Like a ship that cuts through heaving waves, leaving no trace to show where it has passed, no wake from its keel in the waves; or like a bird flying through the air, leaving no proof of its passing; it whips the light air with the stroke of its pinions, tears it apart in its whirring rush, drives its way onward with sweeping wing, and afterwards no sign is seen of its passage. Or like an arrow shot at a mark, the pierced air closing so quickly on itself, there is no know-ledge which way the arrow has passed. So with us: scarcely born, we disappear, of virtue not a trace have we to show, we have spent ourselves in our own wickedness" (Ws. 5,6-13). Those who have sinned have spo-ken in this way in hell. "Then the upright, will stand up boldly" (Ws. 5,1), says the sage, the just will endure and will live and their works will remain for eternity. St. John has said it: "Then I heard a voice from heaven say to me, write down: blessed are those who die in the Lord, Blessed indeed, the spirit says; now they can rest for ever after their Work, since their good deeds go with them" (Apoc. 14,13).

The supernatural life which we now live by faith is therefore the only true life which will not cease with the death of our bodies but will find its fulfilment in the vision of God. Let that teach us to enrich ourselves (p 68) with good works (cf. 1 Tim. 6,18), knowing that even a glass of cool water (cf. Mt. 10,42) given in the name of the Lord, "will not be without its reward" (Mt.9,40). Let us have a clear conscience so as not to place any obstacle to the works of faith. "Timothy, my son, these are the instructions that I am giving you ... so that ... you may fight like a good soldier, with faith and a good conscience" (1 Tim. 18-19). For "is not human life on earth just conscript service" (Job. 7,1). But "the victory that has overcome the world is our faith (1 Jn . 5,4). May the Lord deign to increase it in you. Amen.

1 Ps. Aug. serm. 37 (197). PI. 39, 1820. In fact it is from St. Cesaire of Aries serm. 121 (Cf. PLS 2842).

2 On St. Mark 1,3 ch. 11, PL 92, 248.
SECOND MEDITATION

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Friday

Let us place ourselves in the presence of God ... Let us adore him ... Let us thank him for the movements of grace through which he has already led us to the desire for perfection and the life of Faith ... Strengthen and fortify our faith, Lord, for up to now we have been weak, sick, and timid, "of little faith" (Mt. 8,26) ... Lord, "Increase our faith" (Lk. 17,5) ... come Holy spirit.

I want to be righteous; You are just 0 lord, and just are all your works" (Tobit 3,2); and all your friends are just. "Whoever does not live uprightly and does not love his brother is not from God" (1 Jn . 3,10). We must therefore have faith, for "anyone who is upright through faith will live" (Rom. 1,17). "Without faith, it is impossible to please God" (Heb. 11,6).

First, I must believe everything which the Holy Mother, the Church, believes, for "whoever wishes to be saved must, above all, hold the catholic faith; he who does not keep it pure and entire, will go without any doubt, to his eternal loss" (Athanasian Creed, FC N°).

Already, Lord, you have given me this grace in my soul, when you gave me the very precious gift of baptism. Since my childhood I have always believed, and still now I believe everything which the Church believes. Strengthen me, Lord, in the catholic faith, so that I may never waver by consorting with pagans who are ignorant of you, or with here-tics who are ignorant of Jesus Christ.

o unfortunate pagan region, "you that kill the prophets and stone those who are sent to you! How often have I longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you refused" (Mt. 23,37). "A man of noble birth" (Lk. 19,12) has come, the King of kings, the Teacher of Nations, Jesus, "to be appointed King" (Lk. 19,14).

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o unfortunate heretics, who tear the seamless tunic of Christ!. .. Blinded by pride of mind or corruption of heart, or believing more in weak human reason than in God, or going in a senseless fashion against reason itself, they deny the faith and scorn the Church. Yet, Jesus, you have said: "If your brother has done something wrong ... and if he refuses to listen to the community, treat him like a gentile or a tax collector" (Mt. 18,15.17). They boast about reading the Holy Scriptures but, "they listen and listen but never understand! Look and look, but never per-ceive" (Mt. 13,13). Is the Church not called in Scripture "Pillar and support of the truth" (1 Tim. 3,15)? Have you not promised, Jesus, that you yourself will help the Church "right to the end of time" (Mt. 28,20)? Have you not sent your Spirit who has taught the Church the "complete truth" (Jn . 16,13)? The sons of the saints say among themselves: but our fathers in the faith, the Holy Fathers and Doctors of the Church proclaim unanimously the infallibility of the church. In order that no doubt could be raised about the genuine Church of Christ, it has been built on the "foundation of the Apostles", of whom Peter is the chief, "and of the Prophets, and Jesus Christ himself is the cornerstone" (Eph. 2,20), and Peter is his vicar, "so I now say to you: You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church. And the gates of the underworld can never over-power it" (Mt. 16,18). From this came the word of St. Ambrose: "Where Peter is, there is the Church". For the Church is a living and perfect body, of which we are the members (Eph. 5,30); "the body is one" (1 Cor. 12,12), with one head, Peter; Simon, son of Jonah, you are a blessed man", Jesus said to Peter, "because it was no human agency that revealed this to you but my Father in heaven" (Mt. 16,16). "But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail, and once you have recovered, you in your turn must strengthen your brothers" (Lk. 22,32). And again: "Feed my lambs ... feed my sheep" (Jn . 21,15-17), that is to say: feed the children, feed the mothers; feed the faithful who are the lambs of the flock of the Lord, feed the bishops who have begot them in the faith; feed, direct, govern the universal Church. The faithful can therefore be mistaken, the priests also and even sometimes the bishops; but Peter, the sovereign Pontiff, the Head of the Church Militant, cannot be mista-ken in the faith.

o Lord Jesus, do not permit me to have doubts, be they ever so (p 71) small, about the faith which is so certain and so well established on so many proofs. I believe firmly everything that your holy, catholic, apos-tolic and Roman Church teaches, since Peter sits in Rome on an indefec-tible chair.

Protect us, Lord, from the lures of the enemies of the Church; "for there are many deceivers at large in the world" (2 Jn. 7) and they have circulated in these regions like ravenous wolves clothed as sheep (cf. Mt. 7.15). They are clever, they have power, money and at times a certain external appearance of uprightness. They pretend to be zealous for your word, but they contaminate this word themselves in a sacrilegious way. "You are from your father, the devil, and you prefer to do what your father wants. He was a murderer from the beginning; he was never grounded in the truth ... he is a liar and the father of lies" (Jn . 8,44). Consequently, they do not have doctrinal unity. For "He that trusteth to lies feedeth the winds" (Pr. 10,4 Vulg.).

Truly, who still preaches today in these regions the teaching of the first protestants who came from Trinquebar to infiltrate the flock gathered together by Francis Xavier in the sheepfolds of the good Shepherd? No one or almost no one. Dutch protestants have come and have thrown down the Churches of the true God, have persecuted the genuine Catholics, obliging them to go into exile, and have announced a new interpretation of the Bible. In addition English and American pro-testants arrived with as many ideas as people. The catholic faith endures, unique, because it is true. "One Lord, one faith, one baptism" (Eph. 4,5). Catholic missionaries preach today what Francis Xavier preached and he preached what Saint Thomas preached; as for Saint Thomas, he preached what the other Apostles preached, who could claim with confi-dence: "We are declaring to you what we have seen and heard" (1 Jn . 1,3).

There is however, one point on which all the protestants are in agreement. They concur, 0 Jesus, in hatred against your Holy Church; in that all the schismatics and pagans are united against us. But what is astonishing in that? You have warned us Good Jesus, when you said: "Now if Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself: so how can (p 72) his kingdom last?" (Mt. 12,26). And you added: "Anyone who is not with me is against me, and anyone who does not gather with me throws away (Mt, 12,30). In this way, Lord, both by their divisions among them-selves and by their coalition against your Church, the heretics display evident signs of the devil whose sons they are. You have therefore per-mitted, 0 Lord, "for the sake of those who are chosen" (Mt. 24,22) that those you have selected from the beginning as your own may not stray (cf.Mt. 24,24). Therefore you have prayed thus: "Holy Father, keep those you have given me true to your name" (Jn. 17,11). "Not one of those you gave me have I lost" (Jn . 18,9).

o Lord Jesus Christ, grant that we may be counted among your elect. Strengthen us in the faith. Grant that we may always believe what we now believe; your integral word; the word written by the prophets and the evangelists, in its true meaning, according to the interpretation of the Church "the pillar and support of truth" (1 Tim. 3.15); the word transmitted by the Church itself to whom the Holy Spirit has taught the "complete truth" (Jn . 16.3). All, in fact, has not been written, as Saint John testifies: "There are many other signs that Jesus worked in the sight of the disciples, but they are not recorded in this book" (Jn 20,30).

While thanking God for the ineffable grace of the faith which he has given us and which he has maintained in us till now, let us pray that he may grant us perseverance right until death. Let us implore him to have mercy on the schismatics, the heretics and the pagans, especially those among them who are particularly close to us through family, friendship or neighbourhood, so that the Lord may deign to enlighten their minds and convert their hearts and that there be "only one flock, one shepherd" (Jn . 10,16).

We cannot be content with the ordinary faith, which is absolutely necessary for everyone to merit eternal life. "The catholic faith is such that if one does not faithfully and firmly believe it, one cannot be saved" (Athan. Creed FC N° 10). Jesus spoke to his apostles of this more perfect faith: "In truth I tell you, if your faith is the size of a mustard seed you (p 73) will say to this mountain, 'move from here to there', and it will move; nothing will be impossible for you" (Mt. 17,20). It is certainly the same faith but it differs in extent and intensity. This is the faith that we must have, at least in part; we, men of the Church, who must aspire to perfec-tion, who must be "the light of the world" (Mt. 5,14), the heralds of the faith, the apostles of truth. We must be inflamed by the faith, to the point of living the faith: "He who is justified by faith will live" (Rom. 1,17). The faith must be our element, like the air for the birds and the water for the fish. To the point of seeing and doing everything through faith, in always having before our eyes God in Whom "we live, move and have our being" (Acts 17,28); God, who reaches from one end of the world to the other and governs the whole world for its good" (Ws. 8,1); God whose providence is constant and universal: "Can you not buy two sparrows for a penny? And yet not one falls to the ground without your Father knowing" (Mt. 10,29); God who sees and judges all our works, even the smallest, in order to record them for glory on the last day if they are inspired by faith: "If anyone gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ, then in truth I tell you, he will most certainly not lose his reward" (Mk. 9,41).

How unwise I am! I who have lost time fruitlessly performing good works, which are useless for salvation because they are done in only a natural way, without any supernatural impulse of faith! What great treasure would I have for eternal life if the life of faith which has been given to me by the grace of baptism, had inspired all my actions. The Apostle has already made clear to us: "Whatever you eat, or drink, and whatever else you do, do it all for the glory of God" (1 Cor. 10,31). But I have not understood, and I have subsisted in a natural way, while being listless or lured towards the world by the burden of nature, while my soul was hungry: "My heart is withering, I forget to eat my meals" (Ps 102,5), "our daily bread" (Mt. 6,11).

Lord Jesus I desire and I wish that in the future all my good actions may be done in union with your humanity, in order that all of them be vitalized by the motive of faith and pleasing to you, Lord. I offer you all (p 74) my actions right up to death which I want to be a final act of faith; I offer to you especially all the works of this Year, this month, this day, especially this prayer, in order that all may be performed, at least in a virtual way, for your glory and my salvation.

Our faith must have such a dimension that even the smallest action hasn't just a simple rectitude and natural goodness. But it is necessary for us to see to its intensity, because "we are the children of the saints, and look for that life which God will give to those that never change their faith from him" (Tob. 2,18 Vulg.). "The faith was working together with the deeds" (Jas. 2,22) for the saints. "It was by faith that Abraham ... offered up Isaac ... He was confident that God had the power even to raise the dead" (Heb. 11,17.19). The saints "through faith conquered kingdoms, did what was right, ... some had to bear being pilloried and flogged, or even chained up in prison. They were stoned, or sawn in half or killed by the sword" (Heb. 11,33.36.39).

Thus in our time, Francis Xavier, that other Abraham, heard by faith the voice of the Lord who called him: "Leave your country. your kindred and your father's house for a country which I shall show you, and I shall make you a great nation, I shall bless you and make your name famous; you are to be a blessing" (Gen. 12,1-2). This country, it is our India. He has come and has become the father of a great nation of Christians; his preaching has been blessed and his name has been made great in the whole land; he reigns, glorious in heaven. Thus in our time, at Tonkin and in Cochinchine, many European missionaries and native priests, laymen, women and children, have heard with a living faith the word of Christ: "Blessed are you when people abuse you and persecute you and speak all kinds of calumny against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven; this is how they persecuted the prophets before you" (Mt 5,11-12). "Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul" (Mt. 10,28). They have merited the very glorious crown of the martyr.

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o Lord, how far we are from this living faith of your saints! We are "foolish men, so slow to believe" (Lk. 24,25), "men of little faith" (Mt. 8,26), we do not want to suffer for you! The pagans advance against us, not armed with fire or sword, but only ranting and raving; and we are afraid of them! We are hesitant if ever the propagation of the faith or the defence of the honour of our holy religion demands from us work, hardship or the sacrifice of temporal goods! How we should fear your angry statement to us: "Where is your faith"? (Lk. 8,25). Arouse our faith, Lord, so that always contemplating Jesus who has died for us and the saints who have imitated his passion, let us lay aside the burden of our nature, especially that of sin, and let us follow you joyfully in the midst of the worry and anguish of this life, so as to merit having a part with you in heaven, AMEN.

Let us resolve first of all to take care that in the future all our actions be inspired by faith in a supernatural way. Secondly, let us prove our faith, if the occasion demands it, even at the risk of heroic actions.

"With so many witnesses in a great cloud all around us, we too, then, should throw off everything that weighs us down and the sin that clings so closely, and with perseverance keep running in the race which lies ahead of us. Let us keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, who leads us in our faith and brings it to perfection; for the sake of the joy which lay ahead of him, he endured the cross, disregarding the shame of it and has taken his seat at the right hand of God's throne" (Heb. 12,1-2).

Ejaculatory prayer: Lord, increase our faith (cf. Lk. 17,5).
FOURTH TALK

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Friday: 10.00

"Only faith can guarantee the blessings that we hope for" (Heb 11,1).

We have already spoken about what faith is, how valuable it is, necessary for everyone, especially for men of the Church whom God calls to perfection, whom he no more calls "servants" but "friends", whom he has placed in the Church on "the lampstand" so that their light "shines in peoples' sight, that... they give praise to your Father in Heaven" (Mt. 5,15.16). You have understood all that, dear sons, and you have prepared your hearts so that the faith be planted there with deep roots. Let us now examine hope, the second theological virtue, which will grow in proportion as your faith grows, while from its side, hope itself inspires an increase of faith, demonstrating to us that we are made for God and that we will one day possess him who is the object of our faith.

Before all, let us admire the goodness of God and his providence with regard to us. "He has made us" (Ps. 99,3), "He knows of what we are made" (Ps. 102,14). He knows that our nature is weak and corrupt, for "your hands have shaped and created me" (Job 10,8). What is more, you know 0 Lord God, how much we have sinned against you, in former times, for "you have taken note of our guilty deeds" (Ps. 89,8). Neverthe-less, very dear sons, the good God wills, ordains, demands, commands that we hope.

We can therefore conclude at once that what sometimes appears impossible is possible. It is possible for us to overcome our nature, to conquer it, to wash away past sins, to avoid committing sins in the future, to practise virtue, to obtain that perfection which is in keeping with our vocation, to merit heaven, to go up there with the saints and to possess (p 77) God immediately by supernatural grace so as to possess him finally in glory, by seeing him "face to face" (1 Cor. 13,12). All that is certainly possible; have confidence in God.

It is true that none of this is possible by ourselves. "Cut off from me you can do nothing", Jesus tells us (Jn . 15,5). But we can do every-thing in Jesus and by Jesus, for God" remembers that we are dust" (Ps. 103,14); and "from the descendants (of David), God, in accordance with his promise, has raised up Jesus, the Saviour of Israel" (Acts 13,23). Who would lose hope, dear sons, when God has willed our salvation? "God sent his only Son into the world that we might have life through him" (1 Jn . 4,9). "For this is how God loved the world: he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life" (Jn . 3.16). "After saying this, what can we add? If God is for us, who can be against us? Since he did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for the sake of all of us, then can we not expect that with him he will freely give us all his gifts? Who can bring any accusation against those whom God has chosen? When God grants saving justice who can condemn? Are we not sure that it is Jesus Christ, who died, yes and more, who was raised from the dead and is at God's right hand and who is adding his plea for us" (Roms 8,31-34). "Since in Jesus, the Son of God, we have the supreme high priest who has gone through to the highest heaven, we must hold firm to our profession of faith. For the high priest we have is not incapable of feeling our weaknesses ... Let us then, have no fear in approaching the throne of grace to receive mercy and to find grace when we are in need of help" (Heb. 4,14ff). With that kind of help what is to stop us from saying with St. Paul: "There is nothing I cannot do in the One who strengthens me" (Philipp. 4,13).

Truly, if we meditate on this argument for our hope, our damnation is well nigh impossible. It would seem impossible if the same Christ who died for us, had not also revealed that those who will be excluded from the kingdom of heaven will be many: "For many are invited but not all are chosen" (Mt. 22,14). In fact, our damnation is impossible from God's side, but from our side it is possible. We are free, as we said yesterday, (p 78)

and, although God wishes to save us, it is essential that we also want it. As St. Augustine says: "God who has redeemed us without us, does not save us without us". We are free. Therefore, if we wish, we can damn ourselves; but our damnation is impossible on God's side in this sense that he really wills our salvation and has done to excess everything which is necessary for that. Therefore if we are lost (Let that not happen) our damnation would be totally our own.

What should one say of a man who would allow himself to die of hunger and thirst in a lovely garden planted with fruit trees laden with ripe fruit and supplied abundantly with water? He would die like a lazy man who would not even stretch out his hand to collect the fruit nor bend his back to draw the water ... Who would be responsible for his death? The gardener or himself? He would be, surely. We too are placed in a garden planted by the hand of God, irrigated by the blood of Christ; and in the middle there is "the tree of life" (Gen. 2,9). There are many rivers, namely the sacraments; and we have plenty to eat and drink. This garden is the Church and the gardener is Christ himself who wants no-thing more that to make us profit from the fruit of his orchard. All that is necessary is to ask and he will give abundantly. Prayer, in fact is all-powerful. "Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you" (Mt. 7,7).

Therefore, do not be troubled by any difficulty, nor frightened by any temptation. But "ask, and you will be given" help from heaven to enable you to surmount all. Where is the difficulty, since Jesus helps us and works for us? He will bring to fruition what you begin through trust in him. It suffices to pray with faith to obtain all that is necessary or simply useful for salvation. Is prayer difficult? Look at those who expect something from the powerful of this world. They visit them, they beseech them, they beg them; they go as far as pestering them as they persevere in all sorts of ways in their request. Yet, they are not sure if their request will be granted. We however are assured that persistent prayer will be rewarded. "Suppose one of you has a friend and goes to him in the (p 79) middle of the night to say: 'my friend, lend me three loaves, because a friend of mine on his travels has just arrived at my house and I have nothing to offer him' and the man answers from inside the house, 'do not bother me. The door is bolted now, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot get up to give it to you.' I tell you, if the man does not get up and give it to him for friendship sake, persistence will make him get up and give his friend all he wants" (Lk. 11,5-8). And Christ adds immediately: "So I say to you: ask and it shall be given to you; search, and you shall find; knock, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; everyone who searches finds; everyone who knocks will have the door opened" (Lk. 11,9.10). Let us go therefore to him with confidence, as a friend to a friend, a son to his father by whom he knows he is loved, 0, how many times! "What father among you, if his son asked for a fish, would hand him a snake? Or if he asked for an egg, hand him a scorpion? If you then, evil as you are, know to give your children what is good, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him" (Lk. 11,11.13).

God loves us as a good father loves his children. What is more, he wants us to call him Father each day. Jesus himself has taught us this admirable manner of praying: "So you should pray like this: Our Father ... " (Mt. 6,9). 0 ineffable goodness of God who allows, who com-mands, that we call him Father! And indeed he is our Father. Not only is he called Father because he has given us existence and life - in this respect he is Father of all creatures: "Is this not your Father who gave you being, who made you, by whom you subsist" (Deut. 32,6), but above all he is called Father of Christians, and he is such, because he has adopted us in Christ, his Son, who was made man, our Brother, when he took on our nature. Whence these words of the Apostle: "For what you received was not the spirit of slavery to bring you back into fear; you received the spirit of adoption, enabling us to cry out, Abba, Father" (Rm. 8,15).

What then will I fear, when my Father is the all-powerful God? What will I not hope for when my Father is the God who reigns in (p 80) heaven? If my father in the flesh were one of the kings of this world, I would put my trust in his kingdom, or at least in a province or in some of the cities, with plenty of wealth. But my Father "The blessed and only Ruler of all, the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords" (1 Tim. 6,15), reigns in heaven and promises me eternal glory if I am his faithful servant on earth for a little time. "The first came in, 'Sir', he said, 'your one pound has brought in ten'. He replied, 'well done my good servant; since you have proved yourself trustworthy in a very small thing, you shall have government of ten cities'. Then came the second, 'Sir', he said, 'your one pound has made five'. To this one also he said, 'And you shall be in charge of five cities" (Lk. 19,16-19).

Perhaps my father, if he were one of the kings of this world, would disappoint me. The kings of this time do not always love their sons. They are often cruel and more often still unjust. But my real Father who reigns in heaven, is a God full of justice and truth: "Let us keep firm in the hope we profess, because the one who made the promise is trustwor-thy" (Heb 10,23). Does he speak and not do? Man, whoever he is, can deceive, for "no human being can be relied on" (Ps. 116,11). But "God will always be true" (Rom. 3,4) and will never deceive us. That is why Paul does not hesitate to call hope a certitude. "For I am certain of this: neither death nor life ... will be able to come between us and the love of God" (Rom. 8,38-39). "I know in whom I have put my trust, and I have no doubt at all that he is able to safeguard until that Day what I have entrusted to him" (2 Tim. 1,12). And St. Bonaventure: "I will act with confidence, with an unshakable trust that nothing necessary for salvation will be refused by him who has done and undergone so much for my redemption" .

Certainly, Lord, your words are fitting on the lips of the saints; on the lips of St. Paul who was "raised right up to the third heaven ... right to paradise, and heard words said that cannot and may not be spoken" (2 Cor. 12,2.4); on the lips of St. Bonaventure who was called the Angelic Doctor because of the warmth of his charity. But I, a sinner! I am weak and fickle! I am "a reed swaying in the breeze" (Lk. 7,24), (p 81) "like chaff carried on the wind" ... "Like smoke before the breeze" (Ws. 5,14). I am weak, not steadfast, I have no strength, Alas! and I have also sinned frequently. 0 Lord! If you were to appear suddenly "like a thief in the night" (1 Thess. 5,2), at a time when I am in sin, in the darkness, and immediately you were to call me in this miserable state while saying to me: "Wicked servant" (Mt. 18,32), "Draw me up an account of your stewardship" (Lk. 16,2), if you were to deliver me to the torturers who would cast me "into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels" (Mt. 25,41). H~ could I say that my hope is certitude, I who am certain of having merited damnation very often?

Very dear sons, this fear is right; but it must not destroy our hope and, shall I say, our certitude. Whatever about our past, we have the moral certainty of pardon and God will not refuse our persistent prayers for the grace of perseverance in the good that it is our resolve to do. We have sinned, it is true, and we are still sinners, but, "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. I myself am the greatest of them" (1 Tim. 1,15). "And indeed I came", said Jesus, "to call not the upright, but sinners" (Mt. 9,13). He wanted to be called "a friend of sinners" (Lk. 7,34). "And the pharisees and scribes complained saying: 'this man wel-comes sinners and eats with them" (Lk. 15,2). Jesus replied by presenting the parable of the Good Shepherd who runs out to search and find the lost sheep "and when he found it, would he not joyfully take it on his shoulders, and then, when he got home, call together his friends and neighbours saying to them, 'rejoice with me, I have found my sheep that was lost''' (Lk. 15,5.6.).

You are sad because you do not have constancy, because your spirit is weak, your heart is full of contradiction. Ask and you will receive, and so your joy will be complete" (Jn . 16,24). "Any of you who lacks wisdom must ask God, who gives to all generously and without scolding" (James 1,5). "How much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him" (Lk. 11,13). You have sinned, and maybe even gravely? Ask and you will receive "the forgiveness of sins" (Col. 1,14). (p 82)"Yahweh is mercy and tenderness" (Ps. 111,4), he will give you "a spirit of wisdom and perception of what is revealed ... so that you can see what hope his call holds for you" (Eph. 1, 17.18). "But in his compassion he forgave their guilt instead of killing them" (Ps. 78,38). "Come let us talk this over, 'says Yahweh', though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be while as snow; though they be red as crimson, they shall be like wool" (Is. 1,18). Hasn't God also wanted to be called the Father of sinners? To everyone he commands this prayer: "Our Father who art in heaven" , etc. Let the sinner also say with confidence "Father", let him say it with a contrite and humble heart and God will forget his sins and will call him his son saying: "Quick, bring out the best robe and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the calf we have been fattening, and kill it, we will celebrate by having a feast, because this son of mine was dead and has come back to life; he was lost and is found" (Lk. 15, 22c24).

Let us grieve over our past sins but never despair. "Would I take pleasure in the death of the wicked, declares the Lord Yahweh, and not prefer to see him renounce his wickedness and live"? (Ezk. 18,23). "But however much sin increased, grace was always greater", (Rom. 5,20). Very dear sons, Jesus has poured out his blood on the cross for sinners, among whom I am the greatest. For sinners he renews each day on the altar his admirable sacrifice where again, in mystery, he gives up his body and blood, in interceding for us. For sinners he has instituted the sacraments through which, as through sacred channels, the blood of Christ is poured into our souls: Let the sinner therefore hope, let him have hope, but totally reject sin, the cause of his trouble and pain. "If anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the upright. He is the sacrifice to expiate our sins" (1 Jn . 2,1).

But let the just man hope even more. You are just very dear sons--so I think and want to believe. You are just or at least justified. For if after your first justification in baptism, you have sinned, already you have spurned it and you have been washed in the bath of the Sacrament of Penance, you have purified yourselves, and have recovered the (p 83) friendship of Jesus Christ our Lord. If the evil spirit appeared to me and said: Among these clerics there is one who belongs to me, I would re-spond to him: get away from me, liar and father of lies. I do not want to believe that even one may be the child of Satan; all are sons of God and friends of Jesus Christ. If he insisted: he has belonged to me for a year, for the past month, for some days, I would not believe him, or at least I would very much doubt him. For it seems to me impossible that you have consented to mortal sin with all your heart and all your will, at least since you have become clerics, you whom Jesus has called "friends" and not servants, whom he has placed in the sanctuary of the Church, whom he has made his ministers. Perhaps I could admit that a small something may be true in what he would say: namely that they have committed at least many venial sins. I would be afraid, I say; but I would have much hope that these would diminish more and more in the future. I hope in fact that you will never accept to sin by malice or in a fully deliberate way, even if you commit certain venial sins through weakness. In such a way that if the enemy added: I hope to lead them to mortal sins from these; I have already made for them a thread which will become a rope which I will tie around their necks hoping thereby to lead them into the chasm, then I would confidently answer: get away from me, your impious hope is going to disappear, traitor, while my hope will remain firm. For, if up to the present time there is something reckless in your heart, very dear sons, I very much hope that you are going to conceive, during these days of retreat, one such horror of sin, even of the smallest sin, that never more are you going to fall not only into mortal sin, but even into fully deliberate venial sins.

It isn't that provocations, incitements of the devil, temptation, the illusions of concupiscence will no longer be there. But grace will not be lacking either if you pray without ceasing. For "there is need to pray continuously and never to lose heart" (Lk. 18,1). His providence cares for everything. "Stay awake and pray not to be put to the test" (Mt. 26,41). It's necessary to watch and it's necessary to employ great faith, constant prudence, vigilance, humility, simplicity and all the other virtues (p 84) which fortify purity of heart. But "ask, and it will be given to you" (Mt. 7,7). Jesus "will give his spirit to those who ask him for it" (Lk. 11,13). "You can trust that God will not let you be put to the test beyond your strength, but with any trial will also provide a way out by enabling you to put up with it" (1 Cor. 10,13).

Let us go therefore to God and march under his gaze. "He is not far from any of us, since it is in him that we live, and move, and exist" (Acts 17,27.28). His providence cares for all. It is that which clothes the lilies of the field, which "gives fodder to cattle, and to young ravens when they cry" (Ps. 147,9). "God feeds them. And how much more you are worth than the birds" (Lk. 12,24). How much more will he take care of you, very dear sons! "Even the hairs of your head are counted" (Mt. 10,30). "Can you not buy two sparrows for a penny? And yet not one falls to the ground without your Father knowing ... So there is no need to be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows" (Mt. 10, 29.30). You, whom his right hand has led to the seminary in order that you learn perfection and put it into practice; you whom he has placed in the Church and has made clerics so that soon you may be made priests, "to go out and to bear fruit, fruit that will last" (Jn . 15,16); in order that you an-nounce "the Good News of the Kingdom" and that "all pagans have there a witness" (Mt. 24,14).

Abba, Father. Our Father who art in heaven. Father and not Judge; Father and not Lord; Father and not an avenger of sins! Father, we come to you; to you we flee with the love of children and this trust which your name of Father excites in us. Sometimes, Lord my God, I refer to you as a God who is dreadful, just and a pursuer of the sinner, judge of the living and the dead, for all these names are fitting, but each day I call you Father; a thousand times a day, I say to you: Father, Our Father. .. It is thus that your eternal son, our Brother, Jesus has taught us to say.

Meanwhile, dear sons, let us not abuse such great mercy of God in regard to us. Is there anything more detestable that the ingratitude of a bad son who turns against his father what he has received from him? He would be a dreadful monster who would say: God is good, therefore I (p 85) can sin with impunity, I can sin without fear. God is patient, I can therefore sin today and tomorrow; it is sufficient that I be converted before dying and God will pardon me. These words would not be words of hope and trust, but words of blasphemy, full of rashness and presump-tion, sign of eternal reprobation. Those who think thus are unworthy of the name of sons of God; they are sons of the devil, for "Whoever lives sinfully belongs to the devil" (1 Tim. 3,8). It is to such people that Jesus speaks: "You are from your father the devil, and you prefer- to do what your father wants" (Jn . 8,44). It is against these that God makes terrible threats: "The wicked person will die for his guilt" (Ezk.33,8). "The wicked man will die for his sin" (Ezk. 13,18). They will f:tnally arrive saying: "Lord, Lord, open the door for us". But he will reply "In truth, I tell you, I do not know you" (Mt. 25,11.12).

A painful experience teaches us. How many imprudent people say unceasingly: tomorrow, tomorrow, I will be converted to the Lord. Un-fortunate person! "A king today is a corpse tomorrow" (Si. 10,10). "Exalted today, tomorrow he is nowhere to be found, for he has returned to the dust he came from and his scheming is brought to nothing" (1 Mac. 2,63). The ghastly corpse arrives and is buried in the place of the dead beyond a great gulf, which he can never cross to Abraham's em-brace (cf. Lk. 16,22-26).

Let us not have this guilty disposition which, far from being based on hope, actually destroys hope. Today, and not tomorrow, I wish to be all yours. It is therefore now that I have a horror of everything that displeases you, that I wish to love everything which is plea sing to you and to do all that you command me. There is my hope: you: you are my Father and I want to be your son; there is my hope; "never abandon, Lord, those who seek you" (Ps. 9,11). How much less will you abandon us who have found you, Lord Jesus! "I found my sweetheart, I caught him, would not let him go" (Song of Songs 3,4). I hope I am not pre-sumptuous; I hope and I love. Therefore I confess in confidence with the psalmist: "In peace, I lie down and at once fall asleep, for it is you and none other, Yahweh, who makes me rest secure" (Ps. 4,9). AMEN.
PARTICULIER EXAMEN II

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Friday

Reading from the Gospel of St. Matthew=continuation of Ch. 5 ver-ses 17 to 30.

In spirit let us enter the house of Simon the Pharisee and con-template the faith, hope and charity of Mary Magdalene. While the Pharisees were reluctant to recognize Jesus as a prophet, she recognized him as the Son of God, the Saviour of men, true God, who "even forgives sins" (Lk. 7,49). Although a sinner (ibid 37), she does not despair, but in a gesture of confidence in the infinite mercy of the Lord, "brought with her an alabaster jar of ointment", and in humility waited behind him at his feet, weeping"; in sorrow "her tears fell on his feet"; in repen-tance, "she wiped them with her hair"; and in love "she covered his feet with kisses and anointed them with ointment" (Ibid 37.38). As a result, she merited to hear these words of Christ to Simon: "You see this woman ... her sins, many as they are, have been forgiven her because she has shown such great love" (Ibid 44.47). And to herself: "Your sins are forgiven ... your faith has saved you; go in peace" (Ibid 48.50).

Have we always been "strong in faith" (1 P. 5,9), doubting none of it, believing everything God has revealed through his only Son?

If doubts arise in our minds we should send them away immediately like very dangerous temptations, saying: "Away with you, Satan!" (Mt. 4,10). Have we laid ourselves open to temptations against Faith, by un-healthy affections of the heart? "From the heart comes evil intentions" (Mt. 15,19).

Out of imprudence or levity have we been listening to or reading blasphemies of heretics against Jesus and his Church? for "he who loves (p 87) the danger will perish in it" (Si. 3,26).

If, out of duty, we had to read pagan or heretical literature, have we first sought authorization from our Superiors to read such? And then, have we read it only to refute the lies and not just out of curiosity "The upright man hates a lying word" (Pr. 13,5).

Have we exposed ourselves to temptations against faith by being presumptious, believing ourselves sufficiently competent with nothing to fear? "Everyone, no matter how firmly he thinks he is standing, must be careful he does not fall" (1 Cor. 10,12).

Have we always been, as the Apostle would wish it, "Joyful in hope" (Rom. 12,12), knowing that "there is a house for us from God, 1,10t made by human hands but everlasting in the heavens" (2 Cor 5,1)?

Have we sometimes thought that our salvation was impossible? "Do not think in your heart, 'who will go up to heaven'?" (Roms 10,6).

If we have committed grave sin, have we doubted the infinite mercy of God, by telling ourselves: in order to obtain pardon, "My punishment is greater than I can bear" (Gen. 4,13)? In place of saying in a spirit of contrition: "Remember this also to my credit, have pity on me in the greatness of your faithful love" (Neh. 13,22).

If after having repented and fallen again and again, have we thought that it was useless to make new resolutions and that conversion was impossible? Thinking in this way have we allowed our concupiscence to run wild, without paying attention to the fact that "deep is calling to deep" (Ps. 42,7)?

Or, on the contrary, in presuming rashly on the goodness of God, have we sinned on purpose, telling ourselves: I can sin, tomorrow I will confess and God will pardon me? This would be to tempt God, "Who are you to put God to the test?" (Judith 8,2). "Exhalted today, tomorrow he is nowhere to be found, for he has returned to the dust he came from and his scheming is brought to nothing" (1 Mac. 2,63).

o Lord Jesus, how I have sinned perhaps by despairing of your (p 88) goodness: or what is worse, by presuming rashly on that very goodness, to sin more easily! However, "You are generous" (Ps. 119,68). Do not permit me to be bad because you are good. "You do good: teach me your commadments" (Ibid.). And because you are good, "In you, Yahweh, I have taken refuge, let me never be put to shame" (Ps. 31,1). It is true: without you we can do nothing; without you, we can neither acquire virtue, nor preserve innocence, nor persevere in newly found grace. But you have said: "Have faith in God" (Mk. 11,2). "If you have faith and do not doubt, if you say to this mountain, 'be pulled up and thrown into the sea', it will be done. And if you have faith, everything you ask for in prayer, you will receive" (Mt. 21,21.22).

Strengthen my faith, 0 Lord; strengthen my hope; strengthen my charity so that I can say with St. Paul: "There is nothing I cannot do in him who strengthens me" (Philipp. 4,13). AMEN

_______________

The angel of the Lord, etc, as yesterday.
FIFTH TALK

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Friday 16 hours

"Though I command languages both human and angelic-if I speak without love, I am no more than a gong booming or a cymbal clash-ing. And though I have the power of prophesy, to penetrate all mys-teries and knowledge, and though I have all faith necessary to move mountains-- if I am without love, I am nothing" (1 Cor. 13,1-2).

Who would not be astonished at the eloquence of St. Paul as he speaks so highly of the necessity for charity? We have already seen how necessary perfection is for us, how great should be our faith and how strong should be our hope. But all this would be illusory without charity. Besides, even if a residue of faith and hope remains without charity, the perfection of faith or hope or any other virtue, cannot even begin without charity.

That is especially true of ordinary charity which obliges everybody always; it consists of the simple love of God above all, and of the love of neighbour as oneself, for God. This charity supposes the state of grace, for a man cannot be at once an enemy and a friend of God, friend by charity and enemy by sin. Charity is therefore incompatible with mor-tal sin, which is an obstacle to all perfection.

It is announced to everybody without any exception of persons or time: "You must love the Lord your God, with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first com-mandment. The second resembles it: you must love your neighbour as yourself" (Mt. 22,37-39). Whoever does not obey this greatest command-ment, makes himself detestable to God; and God becomes King and Judge without mercy and not Father, and he will say to his ministers, pointing out such a man: "Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into (p 90) the darkness outside, where there will be weeping and grinding of teeth" (Mt. 22,13).

This charity is the oil without which our lamps die out, without it we would in vain knock at the door saying: "Lord, Lord, open the door for us". The Bridegroom will respond: "I do not know you". (Mt. 25,11.12). The love of God and the love of the neighbour are the two lights that we need constantly, like two eyes, to show us the road to salvation. Without these two lights we stray in the darkness and God does not live there, for "God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all (1 Jn . 1,5).

Charity towards God is so necessary that those who die without baptism, even if they have no sin other than original sin, are excluded from the Kingdom of God: 'In all truth I tell you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Holy Spirit" (Jn. 3,5). Charity towards the neighbour is so necessary that Jesus, otherwise full of mercy and goodness, appears without pity for the person who does not love his neighbour. Listen then to the words of Jesus: "Go away from me with your curse upon you, to the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you never gave me food, I was thirsty and you never gave me to drink, I was a stranger and you never made me welcome, lacking clothes and you never clothed me, sick and in prison and you never visited me. Then it will be their turn to ask (those who are on the left): 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty, a stranger or lacking clothes, sick or in prison, and did not come to your help?' Then he (Jesus) will answer: 'In truth I tell you, in so far as you neglected to do this to one of the least of these, you neglected to do it to me" (Mt. 25,41-45). Charity, as regards God and as regards the neighbour, belongs therefore to the very essence of religion, so much so that the man who lacks it cannot be called by the name of Christian. Do you reject charity? Then you lacerate the Gospel. The Gospel is full of the commandment of charity. Read especially the Gospel of St. John. You will not find one page which will not incite to charity, so much so that the Gospel can be called in all truth the law of Charity, the law of (p 91) Love.

I do not doubt, very dear sons, that you possess this charity without which you would not call yourselves Christians. You are ready to die ten times rather than commit a single mortal sin; and your prayer is no lie when you say each day: Lord, I love you above all, for yourself, and I love my neighbour as myself, because of you. This is why this charity, which I wish to talk to you about today, is not really the common charity which everyone must possess, but perfect charity, like that of the saints, that which united them to God in an ineffable way. This is the charity which ignores distances and led St. Francis to these regions for the sole purpose of saving souls. This is the charity which abhors the delights of the world and led St. Anthony to the desert, consuming him in the mortification of mind and body. It is that charity which has urged to martyrdom, by an angelic love, St. Theresa at the age of eight years; she was unable to obtain this palm of martyrdom, but very worthy spouse of the immolated lamb, she became the admirable virgin, the honour of Carmel. It is this charity the spouse of the Canticle speaks about when she exclaims: "So I shall get up and go through the city; in the streets and in the squares, I shall seek my sweetheart" (Song of Songs 3,2), and a little further on: "When I found my sweetheart, I caught him, would not let him go" (Ibid. 3,4). This is the charity which inflamed the Apos-tle: "Can anything cut us off from the love of Christ-can hardships or distress, or persecutions, a or lack of food and clothing, or threats, or violence? No: we came through all these things triumphantly victorious, by the power of him who loved us. For I am certain of this: neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nothing already in existence and nothing still to come, nor any power, nor the heights, nor the depths, nor any created thing whatever, will be able to come between us and the love of God, known to us in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Rom. 8, 3S-39). This is the charity which entitled the prince of the Apostles to hear the gentle voice of Jesus: "Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these others do? He answered: 'Yes Lord, you know I love you'. Jesus said to him, 'feed my lambs'. A second time he said to him, 'Simon son (p 92) of John, do you love me? He replied: 'Yes Lord, you know I love you'. Jesus said to him: 'Look after my sheep'. Then he said to him a third time, 'Simon son of John, do you love me?' Peter was hurt that he asked him a third time, 'Do you love me?' and said, 'Lord, you know every-thing, you know I love you'. Jesus said to him, 'Feed my sheep'" (Jn . 21,15-17). This is the charity to which Jesus referred when he said to his Apostles: I have come to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were blazing already" (Lk. 12,49). "I give you a new commandment: love one another; you must love one another just as I have loved you" (Jn . 13,34).

What is new in this? Is the commandment of charity not eternal? Is it not part of the natural law which has always been there and will always be there? Has the law of Moses not promulgated that "greatest and first commandment" (Mt. 22,38): "You must love Yahweh your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength" (Deut. 6,5)? The second is also important: "you must love your neighbour as yourself" (Mt. 22,39). What then is new?

The truly new commandment, dear sons, is really new in the way in which Jesus, who loves us, commands that we practise it. What does he command? Does he say only "Love one another"? No, he says: "Love one another as I have loved you". "This is my commandment: Love one another as I have loved you" (Jn . 15,12). That is what is new, that is the new law: it is the really new commandment because before the coming of Jesus no one could suspect or understand the extent and the power of the love of Jesus for men. We Christians can understand that com-mandment, for we know far Jesus has gone in loving us.

You, dear sons, who are loved by Jesus Christ in a very particular: way see how you must love your neighbour: as Christ has loved you.

Can you measure the charity of Christ in your regard? My sons, "Look up at the sky and count the stars if you can" (Gen. 15,5); The graces which Jesus has given you are even more numerous. "Have you been right down to the sources of the sea, and walked about in the bottom of the abyss" (Jb. 38,16). "Voyagers on the sea in ships, plying (p 93) their trade on the great ocean, have seen the works of Yahweh, his wonders in the deep" (Ps. 106,23.24). The mercy of God for us is even deeper and wider.

First, God has created us through the Son who is of the same sub-stance as he is, the Word Eternal. "In the beginning was the Word ... Through him all things came into being, not one thing came into being except through him" (Jn . 1,1.3). He has given us existence and life, a rational soul which places us above all other creatures of the earth. Our soul has sinned in Adam; it has lost its true beauty: the image of God which made us like him and united us to him in a supernatural life has been destroyed; we were worthy of death right from our birth. But the Lord "remembered his covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Joseph" (Ex. 2,24). "But when the completion of time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born a subject of the law, to redeem the subjects of the law, so that we could receive adoption as sons" (Gal. 4,4.5). The obe-dient voice of the Son who already loved us is heard: "Then I said: here I am, I am coming ... to do your will, God" (Heb. 10,2). "Who, being in the form of God, did not count equality with God something to be grasped. But he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, becoming as human beings are; and being in every way like a human being, he was humbler yet, even to accepting death, death on a cross" (Philipp. 2,6-8). He "loved me and gave himself for me" (Gal. 2,20). "No one can have greater love than to lay down his life for his friends" (Jn . 15,13).

Even more, he has taken on himself all our iniquities. Not only was he born for us and crucified for us to save us from original sin; but it is also for our actual sins. which have aggravated the sufferings of Jesus, that he has been "jeered at and rejected by the people" (Ps. 22,7) ... crushed because of our guilt ... we have been healed by his bruises (Is. 53,5). My sins are therefore the cause for which the very loving Jesus "begun to feel sadness and anguish" (Mt. 26,37) "and going a little further he fell on his face and prayed" (Ibid 39) and "his sweat fell to the ground like great drops of blood" (Lk. 22,44). They are the cause of his scourging while tied to a pillar. "The soldiers twisted some thorns (p 94) into a crown and put it on his head" (Jn . 19,2) and "they spat on him and took the reed and struck him on the head with it, so much so that there was in him "from the sale of the feet to the head, only wounds, bruises and open sores" (Is. 1,6).

o Lord Jesus! My sins have so added to the weight of your cross that three times you fell on the way, weak and oppressed, you the verit-able All-Powerful", "to whom the God of heaven has given sovereignty, power, strength and honour" (Dn. 2,37). My sins have stripped you of your garments and have nailed you to the cross. 0 pain surpassing all pains, out of love for me. "Look and see: is any sorrow like to the sorrow inflicted on me" (Lam. 1,12). "I am a worm and not man" (Ps. 22,7). They pierced my hands and feet. I can count everyone of my bones" (Ibid 17.18).0 Lord Jesus! What has nailed you to the cross? Those who were blaspheming you, Lord, said: "save yourself if you are God's Son and come down from the cross!. ..

He is the King of Israel; let him come down from the cross" (Mt. 27,40.42). Is there not something of the truth in such blasphemy? What held you to the cross? The nails? Certainly not! What then? The desire for my salvation. Love for my soul, your love for me. 0 ineffable mystery of charity. "0 how admirable but how strange is this sentence", exclaims St. Augustine, "How unintelligible is the mystery. The unjust sins and the just is punished; the accused is guilty and the innocent is put to death: the impious commits the offence; the pious is held accountable; the debt the evil man has incurred, the good man must bear. The outrage commited by the slave is undone by the master; the crime of man is atoned for by God. How far therefore, has the one born of God lowered himself, and how much has he been consumed by love? What extremes of piety and goodness? How far-reaching the love and how extensive the compassion?" (Aug. Meditations). 0 Lord Jesus! If you have loved me so much, how much must I love you? "What return can I make to Yahweh for his generosity to me" (Ps. 116,12)? Now Lord, I can under-stand the word of your servant Paul: "If there is anyone who does not love the Lord, a curse on such a one" (1 Cor. 16,22).

(p 95)

Dear sons, "you have been bought at a price; do not be slaves now to any human being" (1 Cor. 7,23). "You have been bought at a price, so use your body for the glory of God" (1 Cor. 6,20). Meanwhile, Jesus would have paid this price in vain if the merits of the cross were not applied to us in the sacraments, and first of all in baptism where we were regenerated, where we have "received the light" and have had "a share in the Holy Spirit" (Heb. 6,4). You, whom Jesus has loved have been baptized; you have recovered the first grace in the waters of baptism and have been rendered worthy to reign with Christ, in order to put on the "new man that has been created on God's principles, in uprightness and holiness of the truth" (Eph. 4,24).

Alas! How very many there are, especially in these parts, who have never had a share in the grace of baptism! They have no excuse because they can know God whom they deny and they can know Christ whom they reject. Already by natural reason they can know and often do know actually that God is one, holy, true, pure, enjoying all perfection. But they depict God by empty, absurd and often the most impure represen-tations. By an unbelievable prejudice, they call these representations gods whom they pretend to honour with an infamous cult. One can say of them more or less what St. Paul said of the pagans in the Roman Empire: "Ever since the creation of the world, the invisible existence of God and his everlasting power have been clearly seen by the mind's understanding of created things. And so these people have no excuse: they knew God and yet they did not honour him as God or give thanks to him, but their arguments became futile and their uncomprehending minds were darkened" (Rom. 1,20.21).

The power of prejudice, however, is so great that it is very likely that, were we not born of Christian parents, we would be enveloped in the darkness of paganism. There is one among you who, though born of pagan parents, has heard the voice of Christ. He has obeyed and has become our well-beloved brother. His obedience will be the proof of God's providence in respect of pagans and the condemnation of those who could have done what he has done. This is true. How many are (p 96) there, however, who are prevented by their prejudices from hearing the voice of the Lord? They are not lacking in intelligence, and one cannot deny the fact that some of them possess natural virtue or a certain up-rightness of life. Nevertheless, they remain in darkness right up to death. How likely it is that we would have been like them if the charity of Jesus had not predisposed our will by the grace of being born of Christian parents! In another sense the words of the prophet Jeremiah are applied to us: "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before you came to birth I consecrated you" (Jer. 1,5).

The grace of baptism was sufficient for you as long as you remained "new born babies" (1 Pt. 2,2), without guile and without knowing the spur of concupiscence. "Truly, no one who is still living on milk can digest the doctrine of saving Justice, being still a baby. Solid food is for adults with minds trained by practice to distinguish between good and bad" (Heb. 5,13-14). From the time you reached the age of discernment, you have had need of a more powerful grace, you have had need of the Spirit of wisdom and knowledge, the Spirit of counsel and of fortitude, the Spirit of knowledge and piety and the Spirit of the fear of God, so as to be able to fight against the spirit of darkness, "the ruler who domi-nates the air" (Eph. 2,2). It is for you that Jesus instituted the second sacrament of confirmation. What baptism has begun, confirmation finishes. Then the bishop imposed hands on you and you received the Holy Spirit.

A little later Jesus himself visited you bodily in the wonderful sacra-ment of the Eucharist. It was his will to live with you, to become your food and drink so that you may in some way be one substance with him. Who can speak of the love of Christ towards men in the admirable sacrament of the altar? "Ah Lord God"; to announce such a mystery "I do not know how to speak" (Jer. 1,6). Let Saint Thomas, the mystic doctor, Saint Bonaventure, the angelic doctor, Saint Alphonsus of Ligouri, theologian and ascetic, the author of the Imitation of Christ and other Saints, whose works you possess, speak for me, dear sons. Read their words of love and pardon me if I am silent, for "I have never been (p 97) eloquent" (Ex. 4,10). Let it suffice to recall that, restored by the heavenly food which is Christ, we are the members of his Body (cf Eph. 5,30). Each time you go to communion, "in him you too find fulfilment, in the one who is the head of every sovereignty and ruling force" (Col. 2,10). "In him you have been richly endowed" (1 Cor. 1,5).

Yet after all these blessings you have sometimes been ungrateful. This is certainly not out of malice (for I would never imply that you would be guilty of pure malice), but out of weakness and blindness of spirit, you have been pushed into evil by concupiscence and sinned gravely. Alas, who would believe that a true Christian could sin were the experience not there to verify that nothing is more fragile than the human spirit? What then has Jesus done? Has he like Elijah, cammanded: "may fire fall from heaven and destroy you" (2 Kings 1,1O)? At the roar of his thunder, the earth writhes in labour" (Ecclesiasticus 43, 17a), so that it falls on you, crushes you, and uproots you from the earth? Has the just judge immediately called you before his supreme tribunal, to be severely judged? Not at all. Up to now it is not his wish to be a judge, but a Father and Saviour. What therefore, has he done? Once again he has opened his heart; once again "there came out blood and water" (Jn . 19,34) to wash all stains. He has called you to the tribunal, not of justice, but of mercy, in the sacrament of reconciliation; and in Penance, by the merits of his Passion, you have put on again the wedding garment. How many times has this mercy been at work in you? God alone knows and yourselves. Let each one of you examine his conscience and see how many times he was worthy of death and yet did not die. See, count and measure the mercy of God in your regard. "Count the stars if you can" (Gen. 15,5). Go into the depths of the sea, measure, if you can, its depth. The graces of Christ are more numerous, his mercy is deeper. 0 Jesus, Jesus, how you have loved us! What more could you have done? More love seems impossible. Dear sons, "nothing is impossible to God" (Lk. 1,37). He adds, yes, he adds mercy upon mercy, love upon love. Already he has forgotten our iniquities, our ingratitude, our weaknesses; and, as if we were angels, he wills to confide to us a ministry of angels. (p 98) Already he has adorned our soul with the character of the priesthood of the new Law, or at least has raised us to ecclesiastical dignity in the different orders of Levites which far surpasses the dignity of the kings of the earth. Some of you are porters, others are lectors, exorcists or aco-lytes and he who is "priest for ever according to the order of Mel-chizedek" (Ps. 109,4) wishes to make all of you, after some time, priests.

The charity of Christ in our regard is therefore infinite. See now dear sons, how much we also must love God. "If there is anyone who does not love the Lord, a curse on such a one. Maran atha" (1 Cor 16,22). How we should also love the neighbour, since we must love him as Jesus loved us. "I give you a commandment: love one another; you must love one another just as I have loved you" (Jn . 13,34).

It is truly a new commandment which has moved so many saints to give their life for the salvation of the neighbour. So many missionaries (of whom I am the least), have left, simply because of charity, brothers, sisters, father, mother, homeland to lead a life of poverty among strange peoples; so many virgins, whom one does not meet in these regions where the charity of Christ has grown cold, have visited the disabled, have taken care of the sick with their own hands, have served the poor as if they were giving all those services to Christ himself; so many priests have watched over their parishes like the good shepherd over his flock and have taken care, day and night, of the salvation of their flock. 0 truly new commandment, which I have not perhaps understood up to now! Open my heart, Lord, open my heart and plant within it your commandment so that I can do something for you, who have done so much for me; if I saw you naked, I would give you my clothes; if I knew you to be hungry or thirsty, I would not eat a piece of bread or drink a drop of water until I first gave you something to eat and drink. But all of that I can do for you, Lord, if because of you I love my neighbour as you have commanded. You have, in fact, said: "In so far as you did this to one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did it to me" (Mt. 25,40). And in another place: "I give you a new commandment: love one another; you must love one another as I have loved you" (Jn. 13,34).

(p 99)

O! If only true charity burned within us! If only we could say with the Apostle: "The love of Christ overwhelms us" (2 Cor. 5,14). We would all be in God and God would be in us. Jesus prayed, he "raised his eyes to heaven and said: 'Father. .. it is for them that I pray ... may they all be one, just as, Father, you are in me and I am in you, so that they also may be one in us ... that they may be one as we are one. With me in them and you in me, may they be so perfected in unity" (Jn. 17.1.9.21-23). We would be united by charity to God, dear sons, and we would be united among ourselves. Let God be our beginning, our end, our life, our everything. The stone thrown into the air falls back im-mediately to the earth which is its goal. In this way, let our heart, in each act, tend towards God right up until it rests in God alone. The fish, having left the water, their element, twist and tremble until they jump once more into what is the principle of their life. In the same way, dear sons, when we turn from God by some distraction, let us return im-mediately to him to submerge ourselves in the charity of God, like fish in the immensity of the sea. St. Augustine put it very well in the ardour of his love: "You have made us for yourself, 0 Lord, and our hearts will never rest until they rest in you". Dear sons "over all these clothes, put on love, the perfect bond" (Col. 3,14). "As it is, these remain: faith, hope and love, the three of them; and the greatest of them is love" (1 Cor 13,13) and it will continue in eternity.

AMEN
THIRD MEDITATION

(p 100)

Saturday morning, after vocal prayer.

Let us place ourselves in the presence of God ... Let us adore him ... Let us go towards the Lord and draw near to him in fear and trembling, for he is a devouring fire" (Exod. 24,1,7), he is charity itself ... "God is love" (1 Jn.4,16). "Moses was looking after the flock of his father-in-law Jethro ... He came to Horeb, the mountain of God. The angel of Yahweh appeared to him in a flame blazing from the middle of a bush. Moses looked; there was the bush blazing, but the bush was not being burned up. Moses said: I must go across and see this strange sight. .. When Yahweh saw him going across to look, God called him from the middle of the bush. 'Moses, Moses!' he said. 'Here I am' he answered ... Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground" (Ex. 3,lff). Let us also, remove our sandals, that is to say the worldly thoughts, the desires of the flesh, the natural attachments, which soil the feet of the soul; with a free spirit and a pure heart, let us go towards the fire of the charity of God; not just to behold it, but to feel it, so that our love may be rekindled by contact with the divine love. 0 good Jesus you have said: "I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were blazing already" (Lk. 12,49). "Come 0 Holy Spirit! Fill the hearts of your faithful! That they may be burned with the fire of your love!" (Liturgy).

Listen to John the Apostle who can be called the Apostle of love: "Whoever remains in love remains in God and God in him" (Jn. 4,16). And on the other hand "whoever does not love, remains in death" (1 Jn. 3,14). What kind is this fearsome death? the death of the soul, sin. "Then the desire conceives and gives birth to sin, and when sin reaches full growth, it gives birth to death" (Jas. 1,15). It is the sin that one rightly calls mortal, because it separates us from the love of Christ who (p 101) is our real life. Whence "through sin death" (Rom. 5,12). 0 Lord Jesus excite in me above all, horror of mortal sin, for "everyone who commits sin is a slave. Now a slave has no permanent standing in the household, but a son belongs to it for ever" (Jn. 8,34-35). I wish to be your son, Lord, "Our Father who art in heaven" (Mt. 6.9) ... Let us make an act of detestation of mortal sin, preferring a thousand times to die the death of the body than that of the soul by sin. Be ready, if necessary, to imitate the example of him who was being forced to break the law: "Resolving to die with honour rather than to live disgraced, walked of his own accord to the torture of the wheel" (2 Mac. 6,19). His constancy has been imitated by innumerable martyrs of the New Testament who "have been through the great trial: they have washed their robes white again in the blood of the lamb" (Ap. 7,14). Now they are glorified in heaven, "they were standing in front of the throne and in front of the lamb, dressed in white robes and holding palms in their hands" (Apoc. 7,9).

What would be the case if, while refraining from mortal sin we were to keep an attachment to venial sin? Our charity would be languishing and sick. If mortal sin is death, venial sins are diseases and illnesses of the soul. They increase the weight of the cross of Jesus, for "he himself bore our sicknesses and carried our diseases" (Mt. 8,17). Venial sins must therefore be hated, detested and feared. It is from them that many people have come close to the gates of death (cf. Mt. 26,2). Venial sins undermine charity because they hand over to creatures a part of our heart which must be completely for God. "My son give me thy heart" (Pr. 23, 26 Vulg.), says the Lord. He does not say a part of your heart, but your heart, complete, integral, perfect. ..

Lord Jesus, I have not up to now thought about the malice of venial sins sufficiently. It seemed to me sufficient to avoid mortal sins. I have been imprudent, tepid and ungrateful. Have pity on me and "answer me Yahweh, for your faithful love is generous" (Ps. 69,16). Pardon all the venial sins that I have committed since the beginning of my life and which I detest now with all my heart, so that my heart belongs to you entirely, Lord, my Father, whose ungrateful child I am.

(p 102)

Hear me and grant that in future I will never consent to venial sins committed with full deliberation and total attachment of heart. I cannot avoid all venial sins because of my infirmity, levity, distraction or forget-fulness, for (the yoke of my rebellion) "has deprived me of strength" (Tim. 1,14). But I resolve, Lord, to avoid even the smallest sins of malice" .

How can I love venial sins which displease you 0 Lord since you have given me without ceasing so many and .such great favours. You have created me and you have added supernatural life to the natural life when I was born again of "water and the Holy Spirit" (Jn. 3,5). You have confirmed the sacramental anointing and you have added uncount-able graces in order that I preserve the very precious state of grace, which I have lost, alas! by misusing the reason you have given me to know you and to love you willingly and voluntarily. "You were angry" (Ps. 60), yes, "you are just Lord, you are right in your decisions" (Ps. 118,137); but "come back to us" (Pr. 59,3) because you are a tender, compassionate God, slow to anger, rich in faithful love, who relents about inflicting disaster" (Job 4,2). "Lord God ... just, merciful" (2 M. 1,24), "for often thou didst convert me, I did penance" (Jer. 31,19 Vulg.). Then you sent your angel who stirred up the waters of my soul by the sentiment of real contrition, and I have gone down "into the pool when the water is disturbed"( Jn. 5,7), and I have been cured and my "flesh became clean once more like the flesh of a little child" (2 Kings 5,14). When my soul was purified by the sacrament of penance, like that of a child without sin, you, yourself, Lord, came to me, you "the Christ, the son of the living Gad" (Mt. 16,16), the true God and eternal life" (1 Jn. 5,20). "My Lord and my God" (Jn . 20,28), really present in the admirable sacrament of your love, you have willed to come down to me so that I may become one with you and that already there may be realized on earth your prayer to the Father: "Holy Father, keep those you have given to me true to your name so that they may be one like us ... May they all be one, just as, Father, you are in me and I am in you, so that they may also be in us"(Jn. 17,11.21). 0 true sacrament of love! true (p 103) fire! ardent furnace of charity, in the centre of which I have to praise you and glorify you without ceasing, because you are blessed, Lord God of our ancestors, be praised and glorified for ever" (Dan. 3,52). 0 Lord Jesus how could I not love you? "Can a man carry fire to his bosom without setting his clothes alight? Can you walk on red hot coals without burning your feet" (Pr. 6,27.28).

Thus Lord, your very- kind hand has led me from my infancy right to adolescence; and I have walked "in the shadow of your wings" (Ps. 17,8), and you have given "angels orders ... to guard you where ever you go" (Psx. 91,11). And the guardian angels have led me into this seminary in order that I may serve you, Lord, in a more perfect way, in the sublime clerical state, in preparation for the fearsome office of the priest-hood.

o Lord Jesus! What will I do to prove my gratitude? "What return can I make to Yahweh for his generosity to me" (Ps. 116,11). Receive, at least my love, even if it is weak and tepid; increase my charity; stimu-late the fervour of my love; grant that I may live and die for you, as you have become man and died for me, 0 good Jesus.

"We too were all among them once, living by our natural inclina-tions ... our nature made us no less liable to God's retribution" (Eph. 2,3) and to reconcile us to God, "you sent your own Son in the same human nature as any sinner" (Rom. 8,3), and you have "gone about doing good" (Acts 10,38). You have begun by "doing and teaching" (Acts 1,1) the evangelic doctrine, for our edification: and you have be-come poor, humble and obedient, "even to accepting death, death on a cross, "scorn of mankind, contempt of the people" (Ps. 21,7): you have died, your hands extended to embrace all mankind. You have embraced me, Lord, in your universal charity: for me also you have suffered, you' have been crucified, you have died and you were buried (ct. Apostles Creed).

***

It is in vain that anyone would pretend to love God without loving (p 104) his neighbour. "You shall love your neighbour."You shall love your neighbour as yourself" (Mt. 19,19). "I give you a new commandment:, love one another: you must love one another just as I have loved you" (Jn. 13,34). Whence the word of the Apostle John: "Anyone who says 'I love God and hates his brother, is a liar' " (Ijn. 4,20).

o Lord Jesus I wish that my love for you be true; teach me then, Lord, how I am to love my neighbour. But you have said: "as yourself", "as I have loved you" (Jn. 13,34). This is what your beloved Apostle explained: "This is the proof of love, that he laid down his life for us, and we too ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone is well off in wordly possessions and sees his brother in need but closes his heart to him, how can the love of God be remaining in him? Children, our love must not be just words or mere talk but something active and genuine" (1 Jn . 3,16 - 18). We must therefore implement in every way love of neighbour right until death, as that is necessary for the salvation of the soul.

First, we must be careful not to give scandal: for scandal brings death to the soul: "Woe to that man through whom scandal comes" (Mt. 18,7) says Jesus; "he would be better off thrown into the sea with a millstone around his neck than giving scandal to one of these little ones" (Luke 17,2). Therefore, it is necessary for us not to sadden anyone: "We do nothing that people might object to" (2 Cor. 6,3). It is necessary not to despise anyone: "My brothers, do not try to combine faith in Jesus Christ, with making distinctions between classes of people ... Listen, my dear brothers, it was those who were poor according to the world that God chose to be rich in faith and to be heirs to the kingdom which he promised to those who love him" (Jas. 2,1.5).

It would be senseless for me to despise a brother under the pretext that I am richer or more noble than he, since he is perhaps more rich than I am in the gifts of grace, and in possessing before God greater virtue. "Take yourselves for instance, Brothers ... how many of you were wise in the ordinary sense of the word, how many were influential people, or came from noble families? No, it was to shame the wise that God chose (p 105) what is foolish by human reckoning; those whom the world thinks com-mon and contemptible are the ones that God has chosen - those who are nothing at all to show up those who are everything. The human race has nothing to boast about to God" (1 Cor. 1,26-28). Let us take care there-fore, not to despise any person: "Anyone who is angry with his brother will answer for it before the court; if a man calls his brother 'fool' he will answer for it before the Sanhedrin; and if a man calls his brother 'Renegade' he will answer for it in hell-fire" (Mt. 5,22). Furthermore, we must love the neighbour: "Our love is not to be just words or mere talk but something real and active" (1 Jn. 3,18), by coming to his help in his needs and difficulties; by comforting him in his distress, and turning him away from sin; and if he has sinned, by bringing about his conver-sion. "My dear people, since God has loved us so much, we too should love one another" (1 Jn. 4,11).

o Lord Jesus, I have not been sufficiently concerned about the love of my neighbour: and yet I am a liar and I do not love you if my love for my neighbour is hollow, and false. You have said through the Apostle James: "If anyone of the brothers or one of the sisters is in need of clothes and has not enough food to live on, and one of you says to them: 'I wish you well; keep yourself warm and eat plenty, without giving them the bare necessities of life, then what good is that"? (Jas. 2,15-15).

Through John, your precursor, you said: "If anyone has two tunics he must share with the man who has none, and the one with something to eat must do the same" (Lk. 3,11). Furthermore, you have assured us, Lord, that the good or evil done to the neighbour, is done to yourself. At the Last Judgement, the King will say to those who are on his right: "Come you whom my Father has blessed, take for your heritage the Kingdom prepared for you since the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food; I was thirsty and you gave me drink; I Was a stranger and you made me welcome; naked and you clothed me, sick and you visited me, in prison and you came to see me. Then the Virtuous will say to him in reply, 'Lord, when did we see you thirsty and give you to drink? When did we see you a stranger and make you welcome; (p 106) naked and clothe you; sick or in prison and go to see you? and the King will answer, '1 tell you solemnly, in so far as you did this to one of the least brothers of mine, you did it to me'. Next he will say to those on his left hand, 'Go away from me with your curse upon YDU, to the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you never gave me food; I was thirsty and you never gave me anything to drink; I was a stranger and you never made me welcome, naked and you never clothed me, sick and in prison and you never visited me'. Then it will be their turn to ask, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty, a stranger or naked, sick or in prison, and did not come to your help?' Then he will answer, '1 tell you solemnly, in so far as you neglected to do this to one of the least of these, you neglected to do it to me' " (Mt. 25,34-45).

o Lord Jesus, what more could you say to persuade us of the neces-sity of love for neighbour?: by respecting the humble, I will help you; by helping the poor, I will help you; by consoling the afflicted, I will console you. I must therefore see you in all those who suffer and for whom - as for me - you have first suffered your passion, good Jesus. Now. I understand why so many of your saints deliberately cared for and comforted with their own hands the poor, the infirm, the sick. They saw you in them, they brought help to you, they loved them out of love for you. I also want to love them for you. Lord Jesus; for I love you, Lord, and I will always love you by your grace which I pray for so that charity may never be lacking in me.

Saint Elizabeth of Hungary showed the greatest charity towards the poor. Her mother-in-law, often reproached her for bringing the sick and the lowly into the house. One day, when the King was absent, a leper, covered with sores, came to Elizabeth. Struck with pity and remembering the words of Christ, she ignored the words of her mother-in-law and cared for the sick man with her own hands, she washed him and anointed him with ointment; she even admitted him into her own apartment and put him into the King's bed. When the king returned, his mother rushed to meet him, upset with anger she said: "Come then my son, come and (p 107) see!" "But what is wrong, my mother, what is the trouble" the king said to her. She replied: "Your wife, in your absence, has brought a man into your room. She loves this guest more than you. He is now in your own bed. Come and see!" The king who was a good man and loved Elizabeth very much, was troubled and did not know what to think. He went to his room, where his wife, very calm and encircled with what seemed to be a supernatural light, was praying. He pulled back the bed clothes and saw ... Jesus Christ crucified! Falling on his knees, and shedding tears of devotion, he was overcome and said: "Elizabeth, my sister, how happy would I be if you put into my bed a guest such as this more often".

o very gentle Jesus, you have willed to visit Saint Elizabeth under the form of a leper in order that already on earth your words were fulfilled: "in so far as you did it to one of the least brothers of mine you did it to me" (above).

* * *

Let our particular resolution be to always see Jesus in the poor, the lowly, the rejects of the world, and to love them for God, so that from the love of neighbour we may merit to obtain perseverance in the love of God.

The following prayer: Lord, my God, I love you with my whole heart and I love my neighbour as myself because of you.
SIXTH TALK

(p 108)

Saturday 10 0' Clock.

"Love is always patient and kind, it is never jealous, love is never boastful or conceited, it is never rude or selfish, it does not take offence, and is not resentful. Love takes no pleasure in other people's sins but delights in the truth, it is always ready to excuse, to trust, to hope, and to endure whatever comes". (1 Cor. 13,4-7).

We have already seen how our lives must be lives of faith, hope and charity. But without works, one would pretend in vain to possess these virtues; they cannot exist without the fruits which proceed from them. What would be the point of digging wells which would not give water? It would be folly to dig cisterns, "cracked cisterns that can hold no water at all". (Jer. 2,13). Why plant trees that would not produce fruit? "Any tree that does not produce good fruit is cut down and thrown on the fire" (Mt. 7,19).

You have faith? Prove it by your works. "Take the case, my brothers, of someone who has never done a single good act but claims that he has faith. Will that faith save him?" says the Apostle James. "Faith is like that: if good works do not go with it, it is quite dead ... A body dies when it is separated from the spirit, and in the same way faith is dead if it is separated from good works" (Jas. 2,14.17.26). "You be-lieve in the One God - that is creditable enough, but the demons have the same belief, and they tremble with fear" (Ibid 19).

You have hope? Prove it by works. Jesus said: "It is not those who say to me, 'Lord, Lord' who will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the person who does the will of my Father in heaven" (Mt. 7,21).

You have charity? Prove it by works. For Jesus has said also: "If you love me you will keep my commandments ... Anybody who receives my commandments and keeps them will be one who loves me; and any- body (p 109) who loves me will be loved by my Father. .. If anyone loves me he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we shall come to him and make our home with him. Those who do not love me do not keep my words" (Jn . 15,15.21.23-24). Let us see therefore today, dear sons, if our works are those of faith, hope and charity. As charity takes in everything, since "The only purpose of this instruction is that there should be love ... " (1 Tim. 5) it suffices to examine ourselves to see if our works have the character of charity which the Apostle indicated when he said: "Love comprises patience, love gives service" etc. (above).

First, Love comprises patience. Let us run "steadily the race we have started. Let us not lose sight of Jesus, who leads us in our faith and brings it to perfection; for the sake of the joy which was still in the future, he endured the cross" (Heb. 12,1-2). We also, dear sons, must continually carry our cross. This life is full of woes from beginning to end: "Like every human being, I am mortal..." says Solomon, "and like everyone else, the first sound I made was a cry" (Wisdom 7,1-3). And Job: "We are all born weak and helpless. All lead the same short, trou-bled life" (lb. 14,1). The patriarch Jacob replied to Pharaoh: "My life of wanderings has lasted one hundred and thirty years ... these years have been few and difficult" (Gen. 47,9). There is therefore no man "in this vale of tears" (Salve Regina) who escapes afflictions. The pains are in-numerable, pains of body, of mind and of heart. Difficulties from people, things, and from ourselves. Difficulties in avoiding evil, but also in doing good. Nature fights them, loathes them, grumbles and complains about them. Charity is patient, delights and glories in difficulties. For me, says the Apostle, "I will boast about a man like that, but not about anything of my own except my weakness ... And that is why I am content with my weaknesses, and with insults, hardships, persecutions, and the agonies I go through for charity's sake. For it is when I am weak that I am strong" (2 Cor. 12,5-10).

Following the example of Jesus who, "carrying his own cross he Went out of the city to the place of the skull" (Jn . 19,17) without a word (p 110) of complaint, "like a sheep that is led to the slaughter-house, like a lamb that is dumb in front of its shearers, like these he never opens his mouth" (Acts 8,32), he carries his cross patiently and with joy. Sometimes we, lacking in charity, find the cross too heavy, and before reaching the top of the hill we are tempted to abandon it. Dear sons, do not fail in that way, but listen to Jesus: "Anyone who does not take up his cross and follow in my footsteps is not worthy of me" (Mt. 10,38). And again in another place: "If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him re-nounce himself and take up his cross and follow me" (Lk, 9,23). Let us therefore, march bravely on the road that the author of the Imitation of Christ calls the royal road of the Holy Cross": "Why then are you afraid of carrying the cross by which one reaches the Kingdom? In the cross is salvation; in the cross is life; in the cross is protection against the enemies; in the cross is the effusion of kindness from on high; in the cross is strength of soul; in the cross is the joy of the spirit, in the cross is the summit of virtue; in the cross is perfect sanctity. There is no salvation, no hope of eternal life apart from the cross. Take up therefore your cross and follow Jesus" (Imit. of Jesus Christ 1.2 Ch.12).

In place of fearing pains and sorrows, the Saints desired them; they knew that this life is given to us in order to merit eternal life, the true life in the future. Is there any crown without work? Is there any crown without a fight? "Or take an athlete - he cannot win any crown unless he has kept all the rules of the contest" (2 Tim. 2,15), says the Apostle. This is why St. Theresa "had the habit of speaking thus to God: Lord, to suffer or to die" (15th. Oct. Old Roman Breviary). And Saint Ignatius wrote to the Romans: "I look forward to the real lions that have been got ready for me. All. I pray is that I find them swift. I am going to make overtures to them, so that, unlike some other wretches whom they have been too spiritless to touch, they may devour me with all speed. And if they are still reluctant, I shall use force to them ... Fire, cross, beast-fight-ing, hacking and quartering, splintering of bone and mangling of limb, even the pulverizing of my entire body - let every horrid and diabolical torment come upon me, provided only that I can win my way to Jesus (p 111) Christ" (Letter of Saint Ignatius of Antioch: Divine Office). Condemned to the beasts, desiring to anger the lions, in his desire for martyrdom he said: pray leave me to be a meal for the beasts, for it is they who can provide my way to God. I am his wheat ground fine by the lions' teeth to be made purest bread for Christ" (Div. Office). Saint John of the Cross, questioned by Jesus Christ on what reward he wished to receive for so many works, responded: 'Lord, to suffer and to be scorned for you" (24th. Nov. Old Rom. Breviary). Christ has already given us an example of such a desire for suffering when he said in relation to his passion which was to come: "There is a baptism I must still receive, and how great is my distress till it is over" (Lk. 12,50).

We are, however, lazy, soft, and we fear pain, we do not want to suffer - not even from things, still less from men. If some one does us wrong, immediately we are annoyed, sometimes we reply with anger, using even indecent language as if we forget the warning of Christ: "Anyone who is angry with his rother will answer for it before the court; if a man calls his brother 'Fool' he will answer for it before the Sanhedrin, and if he calls him 'Renegade' he will answer for it in hell-fire" (Mt. 5,22). If some sickness strikes us, if we suffer some material damage, like the loss of material goods or friends or those near to us, we are sad, we cry without restraint, without thinking of blessing God for what has happened, like the Patriarchs Tobias and Job. With regard to the blindness of the first it is said: "The Lord has permitted that this trial comes to him so that his patience be given as an example to posterity, like that of holy Job" (Tob. Vulg. 2,12), who ·"threw himself on the ground, adored God and said: naked I came from the womb of my mother, naked I will return. The Lord has given, the Lord has taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord" (Job 1,20-21). We lose the opportunity of offering these trials to God with thanksgiving, as a propitation for our sins, as if we never knew that "The Lord trains the ones that he loves and he punishes all those that he acknowledges as his sons" (Heb. 12,6). What do I say? The horror of suffering is so strong in us that if it is necessary to overcome any difficulty in order to save souls, immediately we pull back. Yet, (p 112) "Once the hand is laid on the plough, no one who looks back is fit for the Kingdom of God" (Lk. 9,62).

That would not happen, dear sons, if our charity was as patient as that of Christ who "suffered for you and left an example for you to follow the way he took" (1 Pet. 2,21), and if we reflected that it is impossible to reign in heaven with Christ without suffering with him on earth. "Here is a saying that you can rely on: If we died with him, then we shall live with him. If we hold firm, then we shall reign with him. If we disown him, then he will disown us" (2 Tim. 2,11.12). "Let us keep running steadily"(Hebs. 12,1), on the royal road of the cross; for "the kingdom of heaven has been subjected to violence and the violent are taking in by storm" (Mt. 11,12). "Yes, the troubles which are soon over, though they weigh little, train us for the carrying of a weight of eternal glory which is out of all proportion to them" (2 Cor. 4,17), "since, sharing his sufferings so as to share his glory" (Rom. 8,17).

In the second place, "Love renders service" (in Latin: love is benevo-lent). For the Spirit of Christ is a Spirit of benevolence and kindness. "Learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart" says the loving Jesus (Mt. 11,29). Already the Book of Sirach said: "you will remember me as sweeter than honey" (Si. 24,20). What then can be said of our spirit if it is harsh, if it treats people harshly, if it shows no mercy to the poor and those who are considered despicable by an unjust world when they are naturally equal to other men and even more noble than others in the eyes of God because they are endowed with higher virtue? What can be said if we reject without pardon those who offend us, if we are inclined to find fault and to reprimand? This spirit is not the spirit of Christ; it is not inspired by charity. We must be kind too towards sinners in order to convert them and not to antagonize them, in order that they come back to God and not dispair. One must never lose hope of the conversion of a sinner, one should rather be afraid of inducing him to despair by being too severe. The prophet Isaiah foretold the kindness of the Spirit of Jesus towards sinners: "Here is my servant whom I uphold, (p 113) my chosen one with whom I am pleased, upon whom I have put my Spirit; he shall bring forth justice to the nations, not crying out, not shouting, not making his voice heard in the street. A bruised reed he shall not break, and a smouldering wick he shall not quench" (Is. 42,1-3). You know how the prophecy is fulfilled through the evidence of the Evangelist Matthew. St. Luke teaches us that James and John, in the face of the refusal of the Samaritans to receive Jesus into their City, were annoyed and demanded: "Lord do you want us to call down fire from heaven to burn them up? But he turned and rebuked them, and he said to them: 'you do not know what kind of thoughts you are thinking, (for) the Son of Man has come, not to lose life but to save it'. And they went off to another village" (Lk. 9,54-56 according to many manuscripts). Let us then use kindness more often than severity and if it is necessary to be severe, let our severity be kind. But you "Tremble (according to Vulgate: anger) and sin not" (Ps. 4,5). How necessary it is to be still more kind in regard to those who suffer from natural defects - with regard to the poor, sick, destitute, those scorned by the world, those who are called classless, the lowly, members of inferior castes, while they are, like us, sons of God, brothers of Christ, called to the same heavenly reward. Christ loved them with a special love; he called to him the poor, the blind, the lame, the lepers, and all those who were suffering or were outcasts. He helped them and this attitude became a sign of his coming:"Now John ... sent his disciples to ask him, 'are you the one who is to come, or have we got to wait for somebody else? Jesus answered: 'Go back and tell John what you hear and see; the blind see again, and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised to life and the Good News is proclaimed to the poor, and happy is the man who does not lose faith in me'" (Mt. 11,2-6). Jesus himself said: "For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the man who humble? himself will be exalted. Then he said to his host: 'When you give a lunch or a dinner, do not ask your friends, relations or rich neighbours, for fear they repay your courtesy by inviting you in return. No; When you have a party, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the (p 114) blind; that they cannot pay back means that you are fortunate, because repayment will be made to you when the virtuous rise again" (Lk. 14,11- 14). How will that be repaid unless Christ himself repays it? He has said: "In so far as you did this to one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did it to me" (Mt. 5,7) for "Love renders service" (is very attentive).

"Love is never jealous ... it is not resentful" (1 Cor. 13,4) (above _ in Latin: it is not ambitious). That is to say it is not envious. It likes nothing of the present world, but desiring only God, it directs everything towards God its ultimate end, the only one which is desiderable. "Whom else have I in heaven? And when I am with you the earth delights me not. .. God is the rock of my heart and my portion for ever" (Ps. 73,25- 26). Wealth, honours, knowledge, glory, good reputation, what is all that? "The world as we know it is passing away" (1 Cor. 7,31). It passes rapidly: "A passing breath that returns not" (Ps. 78,39). What will there be left of all that is in the tomb? "Then Job began to tear his cloak and cut off his hair. He cast himself prostrate on the ground and said: Naked I came forth from my mother's womb, and naked I shall go back again" (Jb. 1,20-21). "Vanity of vanities, says Qoheleth vanity of vanities, all is vanity" (Eccles. 1,2) save to see God and to serve him alone", adds the author of the Imitation of Christ.

Our actions must all tend towards God. The only legitimate ambi-tion, the only holy envy and acceptable rivalry, is to please God in everything and to behave in such a way that our actions, even the smal-lest, assume a supernatural merit for eternal life. For that, dear sons, it is not enough that our deeds be good in themselves, without any natural deviation, but we must have the desire and the ambition that they acquire a goodness of the supernatural order which render them acceptable and agreeable to God. A goodness, I say, which is based on faith and opens out into charity. "May everything we do begin with your inspiration, continue with your help, and reach perfection under your guidence" (Prayer for Thursday after Ash Wednesday). Almsgiving is good, fasting is good, prayer is good. Yet, what does Christ say of those who fast, or give alms, or pray, with ostentation for the sake of receiving glory from (p 115) men? "They have received their revard" (Mt. 6,2).

Do not seek therefore to please men, even in doing good. Do not seek either to please yourselves, through natural satisfaction which one often finds in doing actions which are good. Let us seek rather to please God and only God always. If we seek ourselves, we will find only the self, that is to say, wretchedness, sin, poverty, nothingness, for of ourse-lves we are nothing. But if we seek God we will find God, that is to say the Supreme and Eternal Good who is lacking in nothing and has every-thing. Let us say therefore, like Saint Peter: "Lord, who shall we go to? You have the words of eternal life" (Jn . 6,68); and also like the Psalmist: "Not to us, Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory" (Ps. 115,1). Let such be our ambition and our emulation.

The Apostle adds: "Love does not put on airs" (above: In Latin: No question of wrong doing). Charity rejects totally everything that is not holy, pure, perfect - not only mortal sin which is incompatible with the smallest degree of charity, but also venial sins, imperfections, bore-dom, laziness of mind and body, sadness and all the other shortcomings; all are contrary to charity, since all are actions which are warped.

It is true that we cannot always avoid all those in all circumstances.

Deficient in one way or another, we certainly will commit some venial sins. Unhappy men that we are. But we can detest all of them in a general way and often avoid them specifically; after a fall, we can deplore them and humble ourselves, while taking care that none of these imper-fections take root in our hearts. Immediately we feel our hearts troubled by passion or tormented by concuspiscence, let us take strong action and remove the cause of the growing temptation. "It is necessary to watch out at the very beginning of temptation", says the author of the 'Imitation of Christ.' Victory over the enemy is more easy if one does not allow him into one's mind and refuses him entry from the very moment he knocks at the door. It is said: set up a barrier immediately: the remedy comes too late when long delays have reinforced the evil" (Imitation of Christ).

(p 116)

One must therefore fear, very much, dear sons, venial sins and carefully avoid committing them, even the smallest, in a deliberate and intentional way, that is to say with no excuse of weakness of mind, concupiscence of heart or ignorance. Such a sin is inexcusable because, although less grave, it comes, not from weakness, but from a certain malice and it injures charity which does not "act wrongly". A passing sin of weakness, is not as dangerous - it is easily wiped out and destroyed by an act of love or contrition, by assisting at Mass, frequent confession, almsgiving and other works of mercy, both spiritual and corporal. But if some sin becomes rooted in the heart, be afraid, for "he who despises little things shall fall by little and little" (Si. 9,1), and "the man who is dishonest in little things will be dishonest in great" (Lk. 16,10).

It isn't possible to avoid completely all tepidity as long as we live in this world or darkness where our soul becomes cold far from the fire of the love of Jesus, but a deliberate and habitual tepidity displeases God above all, as Saint John testifies "If anyone has ears to hear, let him listen to what the Spirit is saying to the Churches. Write to the angel of the Church of Laodicea: because you are lukewarm I will spit you out of my mouth" (Apoc. 3,13 ff). Disobedience, which is not so dangerous if it is a question of one time in an unimportant matter, becomes very dangerous when it is habitual and persistent. This is why Saul was cen-sured, once at Guilgal and then in an irrevocable way when he spared Agag, King of Amelek, despite the command of the Lord, and he brought sheep and cattle for sacrifice to God, when the Lord wanted, not his victims, but his obedience. "Obedience is better than sacrifice" (1 Sam. 15,22). Laziness, which comes from our weakness, especially in this country where the heat always weakens the physical powers and irritates, so to speak, the spiritual faculties, can be excused up to a certain point; but it becomes the source and origin of all evil when it increases to become sloth "For idleness is an apt teacher of mischief' (Si. 33,29), and "the sluggard's propensity slays him" (Pr. 21,25). I could say the same of any natural imperfection which assumes the proportions of venial sin. We must take care each day to snatch from our hearts the (p 117) vices which are beginning to grow there, just as it is necessary to pull out the weeds in a garden so that they do not smother the plants and make them infertile. We root out the sins which grow each day through contrition while we strike our breasts and say: "Father, forgive us our offenses," because we sin much "in taught, word and deed" (I confess). Thus each day, in prayer and vigilance, dear sons, let us take care that the venial sins do not remain, mature and become mortal sins which destroy charity, "charity which does no wrong".

Finally, (for this meditation will limit itself to these first characteris-tics of charity), "love is not inflated with pride" (above). The man, who, through pride, wants to appear greater than he is, is puffed up. He is full of vanity and wretchedness and wants to be considered great and good. Unhappy man. Even is he were just and good, he should make himself little and look on others as better than he. "For the least among you all, that is the one who is great" (Lk. 9,48), says Christ. Again, "If you do not become like little children you shall not enter the Kingdom of heaven" (Mt. 18,3).

o man. Do not consider yourself good for "there is one alone who is good", God (Mt. 19,17). Of yourself what are you, since you are only "dust and ashes"? (Gen. 18,27). "You say to yourself: 'I am rich, I have made a fortune, and have everything I want', never realizing that you are wretchedly and pitiably poor, and blind and naked too" (Apoc. 3,17). Remember man: "you are dust and to dust you shall return" (Gen. 3,19). Of himself what does man have? "As he came forth from his mother's womb, so again shall he depart, naked, as he came, having nothing from his labour" (Eccl. 5,14). Everything we have, dear sons, whether of the order of nature or of grace, comes from God. If there is intelligence, knowledge, good will, "It is all God's work. It was God who reconciled us to himself through Christ" (2 Cor. 5,18). Let us be careful therefore not to give glory to ourselves and so displease God, the author of every good, "because God refuses the proud and will always favour the hum-ble" (1 Pet. 5,5)." What do you have that was not given to you?" (1 Cor. 4,7).

(p 118)

Let us not proud of our birth either. Someone will say: he is a commoner, I am of noble birth. This is an absurd way to speak since the other has begun life just like you and you will die like him: "For no king has any different origin or birth, but one is the entry into life for all; and in the same way they leave it" (Ws. 7,5-6). Finally, let us not confide in ourselves, as if we were good, and look down on others. "Two men went up to the Temple to pray, one a Pharisee, the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood there and said this prayer to himself, 'I thank you, God, that I am not grasping, unjust, adulterous like the rest of mankind, and particularly that I am not like this tax collector here. I fast twice a week; I pay tithes on all I get'. The tax collector stood some distance away, not daring even to raise his eyes to heaven; but he beat his breast and said: God be merciful to me, a sinner'. This man, I tell you, went home again at rights with God; the other did not. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the man who humbles himself will be exalted'" (Lk. 18,10-14).

There is another occasion, dear sons, in which it is very necessary to take care that one does not become proud or angry, a time when it is at least difficult to have a deep humility. That is the case where other people think or say evil of us. Certain people, as soon as they suspect that others think evil of them, become sad and, containing their anger, become puffed up with pride, spiritually and physically, to the point that they stick out their chests like a peacock, full of the wind of pride. Where does that come from if not from the love of self? If, like the Saints, we considered ourselves the least significant, what could cause us interior trouble or distress? Furthermore, what people think of us is either true or not. If it is true, we should be annoyed with ourselves and we should receive the judgement of others as a very useful correction. If it is false, let us rejoice, since we can avail of the error of others to strengthen our humility, and their opinion is a very useful warning not to fall into sin, to which we are always inclined. It is in this way, perhaps, that the grace of God keeps us from danger and supports us on the edge of the abyss where our brother perceives us tottering without ourselves being aware (p 119) of the very close danger. Besides, there is no crime that we cannot commit if the grace of God does not restrain us from it, as Saint Augus-tine tells us. Let us always use then the judgement of others, true or false, as a salutary warning and in this way evil will be turned into good; "your sorrow will be turned into joy" (Jn . 16,20).

Perhaps it is from pure malice or jealousy that someone accuses us and blames us for a good we are undertaking, under the influence of divine grace. What should we think then? What should we do? Dear sons, let us not be sad, and still less inflate ourselves with secret anger seething in our hearts. But let us rejoice and be glad, for "Happy are you when people abuse you and persecute you and speak all kinds of calumny against you on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your re-ward will be great in heaven" (Mt. 5,11-12).

O holy humility. Source of peace and quiet of the soul. With it, what does it matter what men think, say or judge in relation to us? "Whom am I trying to please – man of God?" (Gal. 10). Not man by any any means, but "God, who can read our inmost thoughts" (1 Thess. 2,4). "Let the enemy pursue and overtake me, let him trample my life to the ground, and lay my glory in the dust" (Ps. 7,6), I, "as soon as I lie down, I fall peacefully asleep, for you alone, 0 Lord, bring security to my dwelling" (Ps. 4,9). "The Lord was not in the earthquake" (1 Kings 19,11), but in peace, with the humble of heart, "Learn from me for I am gentle and humble of heart" (Mt. 11,29).

That is enough for this morning's talk, dear sons; this evening, we will develop other characteristics of charity; keep in mind those already proposed and contemplate them in Christ, who is the model of all virtue. "I have given you an example so that you may copy what I have done to you" (Jn . 13,15).

Amen
PARTICULAR EXAMEN III

(p 120)

Saturday

Reading from the Gospel of Saint Matthew, Ch.5: "It has also been said" Verse 31 to the end.

Let us enter in spirit into the Sacred Heart of Jesus, victim of love (Liturgy). "How good and pleasant it is to dwell in the heart. .. Jesus, a beauty surprassing all ... your side has been open to provide an entry for us. That is why your heart has been pierced, so that in it and in you, we can live sheltered from all the external troubles. It has been pierced also in order that the visible wound allows us to perceive the invisible wound of your love" (1)

Let us examine ourselves to see if in this furnace of love, we are "rooted and founded in love" (Eph. 3,17).

* * *

Do we always take care to keep charity in our hearts, that is to say the state of grace without which even our good actions would be dead and we ourselves would become "a gong booming or a cymbal clashing" (Cor. 13,1).

If there were grounds for fearing that we have fallen into mortal sin, have we made immediately - or at least before going to sleep - an act of true contrition, with the resolve of confessing as quickly as possi-ble, so that we could have some hope of mercy from the Judge if he had called us during the night? For "A heart contrite and humbled, 0 God, you will not spurn" (Ps. 50,19).

Or rather, have we, on the contrary, been indifferent like the wicked who laugh and joke on the edge of the abyss? "The flood waters covered them, they sank into the depths like a stone" (Ex. 15,15).

(p 121)

Do we strive to keep and increase charity by frequent acts of love, produced in the heart, expressed by the lips, proved by external works? "For a man's words flow out of what fills his heart" (Mt. 12,34) and the Apostle recommends us "to be courteous and always polite to all kinds of people" (Tit. 3,2).

Have we shown our charity especially towards the sick, the poor, the humble, the despised, by caring for them, by comforting them, by treating them with kindness and also by giving alms generously according to our means? For "If a man who was rich enough in this world's goods saw that one of his brothers was in need, but closed his hear to him, how could the love of God be living in him? (Jn . 3,17).

Have we taken care that the help we give to our neighbour really comes from the proper motive, not just natural, but from the motive of charity, for the love of God, seeing Christ always in our brothers? "In so far as you did this to one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did it to me" (Mt. 25,40). Has our charity been strong, earnest, patient, kind, forgetful of its own interest, to the point that we were ready to suffer everything, to lose everything, to abandon everything for the love of God and can we say with Saint Paul "For I am certain of this: neither death nor life ... can ever come between us and the love of God" (Rom. 8.39)?

Are we ready to die for Christ as he "died for us" (2 Cor. 5,15)? A man can have no greater love than to lay down his life for his friends" (Jn . 15,13).

Have our hearts been wounded by love for Jesus, as were the hearts of so many Saints? That of Saint Francis whose "side, as it was trans-pierced by a lance, was marked by a red scar" (17th. Sept. in Old Roman Breviary); that of Saint Theresa whose "heart was aflame with the fire of divine love" (15th. Oct. Old Roman Breviary); that of Saint Philip Neri who "wounded with the love of God, was in continuous languor, and his heart burned with such an ardent flame that his breast had be-come too small to contain it. The Lord enlarged it miraculously by breaking (p 122) and removing two of his ribs" (26th. May, Old Roman Breviary).

Lord Jesus, how weak is my charity? How it differs from that of the Saints and from that with which your Sacred Heart burned? Enflame, Lord, enflame our hearts, so that we can, planted in love and built on love ... , know the love of Christ which is beyond all knowledge" (Eph. 3, 17-19). "Lord Jesus, invest us with the power of your Sacred Heart and enflame in us its sentiments. Thus we will merit to become con-formed to the image of your bounty and to .share in your Redemption" (Old Liturgy).

Amen

The angel of the Lord ... as yesterday.

___________

1 The mystic Vine, C. 111 n.1O PL 184,643. Work attributed to Saint Bonaventure accord-ing to DSp. 1,1501.
SEVENTH TALK

(p 123)

Saturday: 16 hours

"Love ... is never rude or selfish; it does not take offence, and is not resentful. Love takes no pleasure in other people's sins but delights in the truth. It is always ready to excuse, to trust, to hope, and to endure whatever comes" (1 Cor. 13,5-7).

Love is not selfish. There is the greatest proof of love, dear sons: re-nunciation or self-denial, seeking not its own interest but that of God. Such renunciation should be the special attribute of men of the Church who are called in a particular way disciples and friends of Christ. Christ, as a matter of fact, has said: "None of you can be my disciple unless he gives up all his possessions" (Lk. 14,33).

One of you will perhaps say: "I do not see much difficulty for me in that, because I possess nothing or very little? Do you not possess any wealth? If that is true, thank God because you have been freed from the greatest obstacle to perfection. He had a certain desire for his salvation, that young man who went to Jesus and said to him: "Master, what good deed must I do to possess eternal life?" (Mt. 19,16). Jesus pointed out to him the commandments. But the young man indicated his desire for perfection. Then Jesus added: "if you wish to be perfect, go and sell what you own and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me". But when the young man heard these words he went away sad, for he was a man of great wealth" (Ibid. 22-23).

Do not think that it is easy for those who have only a small amount of goods to renounce everything. It was by this means that Saint Peter and many other disciples became docile to their sublime vocation. They had nothing or very little, but they said with confidence to the master: "What about us? We have left everything and followed you. What are We to have, then?" (Mt. 19,27). What have they left? They have left their (p 124) nets, they have left their parents, and their wives; they have left their own wills, their own judgement, their natural affections and they have followed Jesus in perfect self-renunciation. That is why Jesus acknow-ledged them as his disciples and sanctioned their renunciation in saying: "I tell you solemnly, when all is made new and the Son of Man sits on his throne of glory you will yourselves sit on twelve thrones to judge the twelve tribes of Israel" (Ibid. 28).

It is the same for us, dear sons. In calling us to the ecclesiastical state, Jesus has wished to consider us as his disciples, not servants, but friends. We must then leave everything to follow Jesus. We must re-nounce everything - whether external to us or internal to us. What is external to us is wealth, honours and all that is considered important in the world. We must renounce all these things at least in the heart in such a way that if we have them we behave as if we did not have them (ct. 1 Cor. 7,30); so that they will not be an impediment to our perfection and we will not go against our sublime vocation. If anyone in fact possesses little, let his heart fear attaching itself to that little. For certain people are very greedy, who possess almost nothing, but cling to their little treasure. It is a very small treasure, but it is a treasure all the same, and Jesus has said "Where your treasure is, there also is your heart" (Mt. 6,21). He did not say "your big treasure", but "your treasure". On the contrary, the rich can be saved if "those who have to deal with the world -should not become engrossed in it" (1 Cor. 7,31). Jesus says: "Happy the poor in spirit" (Mt. 5,3). It is not those who are "really poor" to whom Jesus refers (these can be rich in spirit) but those who are poor in spirit (these can in fact be rich) like the saintly King Louis, the Bishop, Saint Charles Borromeo and many others, though Christ warns us "it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God" (Mk. 10,25).

Let us have no treasure on earth, dear sons, let us not desire riches. Let our treasure be the acquisition, the conservation and the increase of virtue. "Do not store up treasure for yourselves on earth, where moths and wood worms destroy them and thieves can break in and steal" -(p 125) these are the words of Christ - "but store up treasure for yourselves in heaven, where neither moth nor wood worm destroy them and thieves cannot break in and steal" (Mt. 6,19-20).

External to us there is also our bodies. The principal part of man is certainly the soul, but in the present condition, the flesh always fights against the spirit, it blurs the spiritual faculties, it is opposed to the spirit as if it was its implacable enemy. Thus one can say that the body is external to us and against us, since it is the principal and most dangerous of the shackles which keep the soul from advancing resolutely on the road of virtue and from following Jesus. The soul is too attached to it and renounces it, in any kind of perfect way, only with great difficulty . All the Saints have practised renunciation vis-a-vis their bodies which they have considered as an enemy and an enemy which is very pugna-cious. They have mastered it by fasts, vigils, scourgings and they have taken great care never to omit "using the body that belongs to him in a way that is holy and honourable, not giving way to selfish lust like the pagans" (1 Thess. 4, 4-5 according to one of the translations of the term 'vessel' ct. "Ecumenical Translation of the Bible").

This is why the Church commends virginity because virgins appear to live "in the body without the body". Saint Louis Gonzaga is praised by the Church for having been "a man disembodied, or an angel incar-nate" (Old Roman Breviary 21 June). Let us practise renunciation with regard to our bodies, dear sons, and let us. begin already to lead a celestial and angelic life. "For at the resurrection men and women do not marry; no, they are like the angels in heaven" (Mt. 22,30). Let us behave in this way, because it is from the body that there abounds in the world innum-erable sins of lust which dishonour man who is made in the image of God and likens him to the animals. You have made him a little less than the angels, and crowned him with glory and honour. You have given him rule over the works of your hands" (Ps. 8,6-7). "Man for all his splen-dour, if he have not prudence, resembles the beasts that perish" (Ps. 48,21).

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Dear sons, our bodies must be unceasingly curbed like "horses or mules: with bit and bridle their temper must be curbed" (Ps. 32,9). Who would not admire Saint Paul who has been able to "boast" of visions and revelations from the Lord? He said however: "That is how I fight, not beating the air. I treat my body hard and make it obey me, for, having been an announcer myself, I should not want to be disqualified" (1 Cor. 9,26-27). Let us keep our eyes, the windows of the house, subdued; through them the enemy and death enter. "Death has come up through our windows", says the Prophet, "has entered our palaces; it cuts down the children in the street, young people in the squares" (Jer. 9,20) --"what is there in creation worse than the eye?" (Si. 32,13)-- "the bad eye is inclined to evil" (Si. 14,1O--Latin version). The mortified eye will be cast down, in a simple and chaste way. "The lamp of the body is the eye. It follows that if your eye is sound, your whole body will be filled with light. But if your eye is diseased, your whole body will be all darkness" (Mt. 6,22-23). Let us control our mouths which are prompt to utter lies, jokes and vanities. "A lying mouth kills the soul" (Ws. 1,11), says the sage; and elsewhere, "The fool's lips lead him into strife, and his mouth provokes a beating" (Pr. 18, 6-7). Let us control our palate and our stomach which are attached to drinking and intoxication for "Through lack of self-control many have died" (Si. 37,30) physically and spiritually. Let us control our tongue which is "only a tiny part of the body", says Saint James, "but it can proudly claim that it does great things ... the tongue is a flame like that. .. the tongue is a whole wicked world in itself: it infects the whole body; catching fire itself from hell ... full of deadly poison" (Jas, 3,5). Finally, let us control our body entirely responsible for crimes of which "there must not even be mention among you; this would hardly become the saints" (Eph. 5,3). "You must kill everything in you that belongs only to earthly life" (Col. 3,5), dear sons, and re-nounce all the vanities, delights, curiosities, debauchery, and all bodily actions of that kind, if you want to be disciples of Christ and follow him.

External to us there is also our parents, relatives and worldly friends whom we must renounce if we wish to be perfect. Jesus has said, as a (p 127) matter of fact: "If any man comes to me without hating his father, mother, wife, children, brothers, sisters ... he cannot be my disciple" (Lk. 14,26). What is this then? Must we really hate (as the Latin translates it) father and mother? Has God not solemnly promulgated on Sinai a diffe-rent law, the natural and eternal law which Jesus has come not to "abro-gate but to accomplish" (Mt. 5,17): "Honour your father and your mother, that you may have a long life in the land" (Ex. 20,12). And in the New Testament, does the Apostle not proclaim, as worthy of death, sons who are "rebellious to parents"? (Rom. 1,30). What therefore is this about? Christ commands us to love even our enemies: "But I say to you: love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you, in this way you will be sons of your Father in heaven" (Mt. 5,44-45). How can he command us at the same time to hate our father and mother?

Dear sons, there is no contradiction in the law of God. Who has, as a matter of fact, loved his mother more than Jesus? However, this same Jesus, when it is a question of his ministry, seemed to ignore her: "Woman, why turn to me? (Jn . 2,4). "Why were you looking for me? .. Did you not know that I must be busy with my Father's affairs?" (Lk. 2,49). On another memorable occasion Jesus was preaching and "his mother and his brothers appeared; they were standing outside and were anxious to have a word with him. But to the man who told him this Jesus replied: Who is my mother? Who are my brothers? And stretching out his hand towards his disciples he said: 'Here are my mother and my brothers. Anyone who does the will of my Father in heaven, he is my brother and sister and mother'" (Mt. 12, 46. 50).

You have already understood the explanation and the distinction it is necessary to make. We must love our parents, honour them, and always have affection for them, but in God. In such a way that the work of our vocation always takes precedence over love for them. "I must be busy with my Father's affairs" (above). If the advice or the presence of Our parents were to prevent us from accomplishing our work, we must disdain their words, their insistence, their tears, as if we hated them; furthermore, we would have to leave them if God called us elsewhere, (p 128) because "obedience to God comes before obedience to men" (Acts 5,29), and "to be busy with my Father's affairs" (above).

Besides, in acting in this way, we manifest a very great love towards our parents, far from hating or disdaining them. For we prevent them from committing the mortal sin of being opposed to God's vocation in us. Moralists, like Saint Alphonsus de Liguori, acknowledge that parents who are opposed to the religious vocation of their children cannot be excused. How much more would he affirm this principle regarding priestly vocation, especially in this country where there does not yet exist one single native priest who could pasture the flock of the Lord which is exhausted "like sheep without a shepherd" (Mt. 9,36). How many parents will be condemned for having loved their children in a worldly way without caring about the will of God for them, taking care only that they enter into honourable and advantageous marriages? If the sons un-derstood properly "what is the will of the Lord" (Eph. 5,17); if they had ears "attentive to the sound of his word" (Ps. 102,20); if they obeyed God while despising worldly goods; if, in response to the vocation and call of Jesus, they chose to be "at the threshold of the house of my God, rather than dwell in the tents of the wicked" (Ps. 83,11), they would assure their own salvation and that of their parents. In the very act of resisting their wishes, they love them more than their parents, who try to draw them into the world against God's will, love them. Dear sons, let no one say that someone loves his parents more than us and yet "obedience to God comes before obedience to men" (above).

Let us come now to that which is internal to us, and which we must give up, to what we must renounce since, to follow Jesus, we must re-nounce everything (above). The most important of all is our own judge-ment and our own will which give rise to almost all the errors in the world. What is, as a matter of fact, the principal cause of heresy, false philosophy, erroneous opinions which bring with them the breakdown of morals? Pride mixed with false judgement. And from where comes false judgement in matters so important? From the fact that imprudent and proud men place more trust in their own judgement than in that of (p 129) prudent men and especially than in that of the Church, which is the true column of cloud lighting up the night (cf Ex. 14,20), leaving us, the people of God, in the desert of a darkened age. The enemy of man, the devil, knew it very well when he inspired in the arch-heretic, Luther, his own judgement, as the foundation of his false religion. But did not Jesus teach us in this way: "But if he refuses to listen to the community, treat him like a pagan or a tax collector" (Mt. 18,17). Let us hold firm then, to all that which is of defined faith, to the certain and infallible judgement of the Church which, according to Saint Paul, "upholds the truth and keeps it safe" (1 Tim. 3,15). What must be said of the truths which belong to the Catholic Faith, we have spoken of it at length in our talk on the life of faith; but if we want to be perfect, it is in the smallest realities of each day that we have to distrust our own judgement and not believe ourselves too easily. Experience teaches us, as a matter of fact, that our judgement leads us into various delusions. Are there not many points that we evaluate differently later on. Consider in this connection how changeable our moods are. However, the truth is unchangeable, "eternal" (Ps. 116,2). From this it is clear that now and again our judge-ment has been false. What can one say then of those who change their opinion as often as the grass snake changes its skin? They are mad, "for the word of the pious man is always wise while the senseless man changes like the moon" (Si. 17,11).

Furthermore, who can call himself impartial in his own cause? The passions, vain desires, affections of the heart, prejudices, place a veil before our eyes which prevent us from seeing the truth, In the affairs of other people, we sometimes judge correctly. In our own it happens rarely. "Listen my son, and heed my advice, refuse not my counsel" (Si. 6,23). Seek advice from a faithful friend : "a faithful friend is beyond price ... a faithful friend is a life saving remedy" (Ibid 15-16). But a real friend is difficult to find: "he who finds one finds a treasure" (Ibid 14), says the man Sirach. How happy you are, dear sons, in having true friends. You possess this treasure, do not disdain it. Your true friends are the Fathers of the Mission. They love you sincerely and they love (p 130) you in God. They love you spiritually. One should fear sensual, that is to say, natural love, which is often worse than hatred. Our parents love us, certainly, but it is usually in a natural way; one cannot call it love inspired by the Holy Spirit, since very often, in spiritual things and not-ably in things concerning our vocation, it deceives us. The friendship of the Fathers of the Mission is pure, spiritual and true in your regard. Their judgements in respect of you are almost always sure, since they themselves have no reason for error. They can be mistaken with regard to themselves; usually they cannot be mistaken with regard to you. Trust their opinion, not that of your own. If they tell you to do something, do it; not to do something, do not do it. Confide your will to theirs for, as for self-judgement, one should be afraid of ones own will: we must re-nounce it if we wish to be perfect.

Certain people, dear sons, not concerning themselves with the infi-nite providence of God, neglect to seek what is the will of God in their lives, as if God was not interested in the details of life. But is God not all-powerful? "Great in the big things, very great in the smallest things", says Saint Augustine. His providence reaches everything and there is nothing in which his will does not dwell. But there is sometimes oppos-ition to the will of God from beings endowed with reason and freedom. Happy would I be if I were never opposed to the will of God for me --if I have accomplished what I pray for each day: "Our Father. .. thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven". (Mt. 6,10) Alas! How often have I carried out my own will, and ignored the divine will?

The inanimate beings and beings without reason always do the will of God in obeying, without resistance, the natural laws set up by God since the beginning. "Of old you established the earth, Lord" (Ps. 102,26) --"I have caused to be born in the heavens a light forever durable, and mist-like covered the earth" (Si, 24,3 according to Latin version), says the eternal wisdom. And according to Job, it is when the Lord releases them that the lightnings depart saying to him: "Here we are" (Job 38,35). Man has been created free in order to conform himself to the will of God "in whose presence I have always walked" (Gn. 24,40). "The Lord re- quited (p 131) me according to my justice, according to the cleanness of my hands in his sight" (Ps. 18,25).

Perhaps you are going to object: but how can we always know the will of God for us? Does God speak to me openly each day? Yes, he does speak openly, dear sons. "The Holy Spirit says: If only you would listen to him today; do not harden your hearts" (Heb. 3,7). He speaks to us through two voices which are easily perceptible: through the voice of events independent of our will and through the human voice of our superiors who take the place of God for us. If we listen to these two voices and conform our wills to them, we are always sure of doing the will of God. Certain events are quite independent of the human will, like rain, wind, heat, cold, health, sickness, life, death ... all that does not happen by chance but by the divine providence. As a matter of fact, "can you not buy two sparrows for a penny? And yet not one falls to the ground without your father knowing" (Mt. 10,29). The Psalmist calls on "Fire and hail, snow and mist, storm winds that fulfil his word" (Ps. 148,8). In all that let us bless the Lord, let us take the words of Job during his difficult trial: "The Lord has given, the Lord has taken away: blessed be the name of the Lord" (Jb. 1,21).

The other voice through which God speaks to us is that of our Superiors, especially on the spiritual level. It is from God that they hold their power over us, according to the general principle announced by the Apostle: "All government comes from God" (Rom. 13,1) --and Jesus said: "Anyone who listens to you listens to me; anyone who rejects you rejects me" (Lk. 10,16). There is found the motive for the merit of obedience which pleases God to' the point that "obedience is preferable to sacrifice" (1 Sam. 15,22), by obeying our superiors we obey God. It is impossible to sin by obeying. Even if the lawful superior is mistaken in commanding us to do something, this error comes in a certain way from divine providence in our regard which changes evil into good (cf Gn. 50,20); and, whatever be the case, we do not err in obeying, since in practice we accomplish God's will. The Apostle says: "Obey your leaders, and do as they tell you, because they must give an account of (p 132) the way they look after your souls" (Heb. 13,17). On the contrary, we would err often if, under the appearance of a greater good, we renounced the will of our superiors to follow our own. Very easily, our own will slides down the natural slope towards evil: "the desires of man's heart are evil from the start" (Gn. 8,21).

Finally, Jesus himself has given us the example of obedience; he has stated that he always does not his own will but that of his Father. Listen to these amazing words spoken by the lips of Jesus Christ himself, true God and true man: "My judgement is just, because my aim is not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me" (Jn . 5,30). "What I, for my part, speak of is what I have seen with my Father" (Jn . 8,38). "Yes, Father, for that is what it pleased you to do" (Mt. 11 ,26). "I always do what pleases him" (Jn . 8,29). "My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass me by. Nevertheless, let it be as you, not I, would have it" (Mt. 26,39).

Which of us would not want to abandon his own will when Jesus himself has explicitly abandoned his? Let us say from our hearts, and put into action these words which we pronounce a hundred times each day: "Our Father, ... your will be done". Let it always be done in me, who actually live in this land of sorrow, so that I may see you and always do your will in heaven, where it is always done by the angels and saints. "Let your will be done on earth as it is in heaven". Let it not be enough, dear sons, to want to accomplish the divine will in general, by avoiding evil and doing good; but let us seek it in all things. Let us often say: what is God's will for me today, at this moment, on such an occasion or circumstance? Does God want this or that? Does he want it in this way or in that way? And as soon as the will of God is known, do it. it is very easy for you to know what God wants. "Obey your leaders" (above); ask your friends, the Fathers of the Mission, especially those who have charge of the seminary; ask their advice, follow their direction, their prescriptions, listen to their simple opinions, by renouncing your own will to accomplish in everything the will of your Father in heaven and to be perfect.

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This is what is contained, dear sons, in the text cited: "Love does not seek its own interest" (1 Cor. 13,5). As we have already said a lot on the renunciation necessary for men of the Church, I will and next to nothing on the love which "does not take offence", because "happy the gentle", says Christ, "they shall have the earth for their heritage" (Mt. 5,4), and the Psalmist says: "The meek shall possess the land, they shall delight in abundant peace" (Ps. 36,11).

I will say very little also about the love which "is not resentful". For from the heart come evil intentions etc. These are the things that make a man unclean (cf Mt. 15,19.20). "God is the searcher of heart and soul" (Ps. 7,10). I will not comment either on the verse: "Love is always ready to excuse, to trust, to hope, and to endure whatever comes" because whatever one could say has already been said under the talk on faith, hope, and the love of God and that of the neighbour and self-renuncia-tion. Before ending however, let us see how love "takes no pleasure in other people's sins but delights in the truth".

This means that the man of charity is not only saddened by the evil he does and does not rejoice only in the action of the grace of God, of the good God's grace does in him, but he cannot remain indifferent to the good and the evil done by others. We must have zeal for the glory of God. One should desire that all give glory to God; likewise, one must be concerned for the salvation of the neighbour if one loves him as oneself: "When any man is made to fall, I am tortured" (2 Cor. 11,29).

In a good family, a good son is saddened if one of his brothers offends his father; in the same way, he is joyful if his father is joyful. Dear sons, everybody is our brother, and especially Christians. Haven't we only one Father in heaven? If we loved the Father, how not to be saddened at the innumerable sins which fill the earth and offend God? We will rejoice also if others are better than us and give more glory to God than us.

The good of others is also our good since we are of the same family, the same society, the same church. I believe in the Holy Catholic (p 134) Church, the communion of Saints" (Apostles Creed). The evil of others is our evil if we have in our hearts the love about which the Apostle speaks in the text already cited; where Moses, prostrate on the ground with sorrow because of the sin of Israel, said to the Lord: "Ah, this people has indeed committed a grave sin in making a god of gold for themselves. If you would only forgive their sin. If you will not, then strike me out of the book that you have written" (Ex. 33,31-32). Let us take care then that no sin is committed by ourselves or our brothers. Unhappy are we if we are asleep while "the enemy came and sowed darnel among the wheat, and made off" (Mt. 13,25). Unhappy are we if we flee like the mercenary when "the thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy" (Jn . 10,10) the flock of the Lord. "The good shepherd is one who lays down his life for his sheep" (ibid 11).

You will say perhaps: we are not shepherds. Up to now you are not, but you are the first of the flock and the helpers of the shepherds. At least cry out and warn the shepherd if you see the thief or the wolf. Do not be like these unfaithful levites whom the Prophet Isaiah warned: "They are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; dreaming as they lie there, loving their sleep" (Is. 56,10).

Alas! Who, having "faith the size of a mustard seed" (Lk. 17,6), would not deplore the fact that God is so little known and loved in this unhappy country? "When the Lord saw how great was man's wickedness on earth ... he regretted that he had made man" (Gen. 6,5.6). How we should regret that after eighteen centuries since the coming of Christ, we cannot open our eyes without seeing all around us the abomination of abominations. Around us everywhere, the devil reigns, the Kingdom of God has not yet arrived in this country. Every day, temples of idolatry are being built where false gods are worshipped, where the works of the devil are exalted, where these "gods of nations are things of nought" (Ps. 96,5) in the midst of "drunken orgies", promiscuity or "licentiousness", "wrangling" or "jealousy" (cf Rom. 13,13). No one, or almost no one, follows Jesus Christ. Certain people have become Christians; but, alas, if many are baptized there are few who have accepted the doctrine of (p 135) the Gospel. To such a point that one can say of such Christians that "they know God and yet refused to honour him as God or to thank him; instead, they made nonsense out of the logic and their empty minds were darkened. The more they called themselves philosophers, the more stupid they grew" (Rm. 1,21.22). Obeying more their preconceived no-tions than the precepts of Christ, they did not hesitate to violate these precepts and oppose them. They resemble the scribes and pharisees to whom Jesus retorted: "And why do you break away from the tradition of the elders? .. Hypocrites! It was you Isaiah meant when he so rightly prophesied: this people honours me only with lip-service, while their hearts are far from me ... Listen and understand. What goes into the mouth does not make a man unclean; it is what comes out of the mouth that makes him unclean" (Mt. 15,3.7-8). The Gospel is a law of love, and there is hardly anyone who knows love because, favouring some, they scorn the poor and the humble among our brothers. "Listen, my dear brothers," says Saint James, "it was those who are poor according to the world that God chose, to be rich in faith and to be heirs to the Kingdom which he promised to those who love him" (Jas. 2,5). Finally, the Gospel is a law of real purity; well, they are concerned just with external or vain purity, but they are not afraid to soil themselves by immoral conduct and it is said sometimes among Christians that there is "a case of sexual immorality among you that must be unparalleled even among pagans" (1 Cor. 5,1). 0 Jesus! Jesus! Who knows you in this unhappy country? Who loves you? Who follows you? Where are those who see you in the poor, who honour you in the humble and follow you wherever you go? Where are the young girls who take "their lamps and go out to meet the bridegroom ... and (who) have taken oil as well as their lamps" (Mt. 25,1.4)? Where are the priests who could be shepherds of your flock? There is not found a single Indian catholic priest in this Apostolic Vicariate; and if Indian priests tour around this flock, they are schismatic thieves who have not entered "by the door into the sheep-fold" (Jn . 10,1). Consequently, lawlessness has increased (cf. Mt. 24,12). But you, you are "the Lord, the Lord, a merciful and gracious Lord, (p 136) slow to anger and rich in kindness and fidelity, continuing your kindness for a thousand generations, and forgiving wickedness and crime and sin" (Ex. 34,6.7). Have pity, Lord, "have pity on your people, do not be angry with us always" (Old Liturgy). "Have pity on us, Lord, have pity on us". "Send the one that you must send" (Advent), that he may "com-plete the organization" and "appoint elders in every town" (Tit. 1,5), priests, in order that the people may reform through the work of a good clergy, that the faith may increase, that charity may be advanced and your name glorified.

But you have already given signs of your mercy, Lord, in calling these young men to perfection. Inculcate in them, Lord, the desire to observe your law and adopt it in all its parts. That is why you have called them not "servants" but "friends" and that you have made them climb the lower degrees of the ecclesiastical hierarchy. Let your grace finish what it has begun, Lord. Look on this family, we pray you 0 Lord ... and keep it constantly in your kindness" (Prayer in old missal). Lower your eyes, Lord, on these young men and bless them. They are not yet perfect, Lord, but they aspire to perfection and wish to be your disciples. You know that they have at least begun to love you and that they desire nothing other than you. They have no care for wealth, honours, pleasures and delights of the world, whatever they be; they renounced or wish to renounce all to follow you. "Whom else have I in heaven? And when I am with you, the earth delights me not... God is the rock of my heart and my portion forever" (Ps. 73,25-26). "0 Lord, my allotted portion and my cup, you it is who hold fast my lot" (Ps.15,5). Thus do they say to you, Lord, with your prophet. On the other hand, they want to have purity of body and soul in order to be worthy to serve you, 0 God, friend of the pure. "Search me, 0 Lord, and try me; test my soul and my heart" (Ps. 26,2). They give you their bodies and souls with their faculties, memory, judgement, will and all the affections of the heart. Receive this small gift Lord, and let your mercy come on us as well as on your people of India.

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"You Lord know, that because of human frailty, we cannot survive, in the midst of so many dangers" (Prayer of Old Missal). "Send us there-fore, Lord, help from on high" (Old liturgical hymn). Be for us "a tower of strength against the enemy" (Ps. 61,4). Defend us, we pray you, de-fend these young men against the tricks of the devil; protect them against annoyances, support them in the midst of temptation, direct them on the right road, increase their faith, assure their hope, enkindle their love so that they may persevere in doing right up to the end and they may be saved; let them work for the salvation of their people, for your honour and glory, Lord, for ever and ever.

Amen.
FOURTH MEDITATION

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Sunday morning, after vocal prayer.

Let us place ourselves in the presence of God... Let us adore him ... (Heb 11,1).

"Listen to me, you Levites! Sanctify yourselves now ... It is you whom the Lord has chosen to stand before him, to minister to him, to be his ministers and to offer incense" (2 Ch. 29,5.11). It was thus that the holy King Hezekiah, who "pleased the Lord just as his forefather David had done", (Ibid. 2) spoke to the Levites of the old law. David incited, thousands of times, the levites and the priests to be holy because the Lord is holy. He spoke in the name of the Lord: "He who walks in the way of integrity shall be in my service. He shall not dwell within my house who practises deceit" (Ps. 101, 6-7).

What then must be said of the holiness which must be part of the ministers of the new law which surpasses the old law as much as Christ surpasses Moses and the prophets? "At various times and in different ways, God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets; but in our own time, the last days, he has spoken to us through his Son" (Heb. 1,1-2), who addressed his disciples thus: "You must be perfect just as your heavenly Father is perfect" (Mt. 5,48).

Lord Jesus, even the angels are unworthy to exercise the ministry of the new law; who am I to dare exercise it? But your infinite mercy to us has willed that we, men, carry out this formidable duty, and "to some, his gift was that they should be apostles; to some prophets; to some evangelists; to some, pastors and teachers" (Eph. 4,11). You have willed to number us among the men of the Church and to make us, in the near future, priests. Receive our thanks, Lord, and give us the power neces-sary that "your priests be clothed with justice" (Ps. 132,9). Accomplish (p 139) in us what we cannot do ourselves, because we are weak You have said- and it is true: "cut off from me you can do nothing" (Jn . 15,5). But you have added: "Everything is possible for anyone who has faith" (Mk. 9,23). Consequently, your Apostle could say: "There is nothing I cannot master with the help of the One who gives me strength" (Ph. 4,13).

It is therefore by hoping in and confiding myself to you, Lord, in all humility and in obedience to my vocation, that I draw near today to your altar, and that I will ascend through the various degrees of the ministry of levites and that, later, if you ordain it, "I shall go to the altar of God, the God of my gladness and joy" (Ps. 43,4).

During these last three days, you have spoken to our hearts, Lord, and you have inspired in us a desire for perfection. Receive this desire, Lord, as a preparation for the orders which we are about to take. Add to it perfect dispositions, increase faith, hope and charity so that we may receive them worthily.

"My brothers, let us pray to our Lord Jesus Christ for his servants who, for love of him, have come to receive the order of tonsure. Let us pray that he may give them the Holy Spirit, to keep them ever faithful to their new state and to defend them against worldly ties and every profane desire. As the tonsure changes their outward appearance, let Christ make them grow in virtue, let .him open their eyes by removing all blindness of mind and flesh, and let him give them the light of eternal grace" (Old Roman Pontifical. The citations which follow without refer-ences are taken from or inspired by this Pontifical). Let those who have already been tonsured apply this prayer to themselves that the Lord may renew in them the graces which they received when they came under "the competence of the Church" and that he may conserve this grace in them always.

In order that I may be faithful until death to the ministry of your altar, "Keep me, 0 God, for in you I take refuge" (Ps. 16,1). "0 Lord, my allotted portion and my cup: it is you who hold fast my lot" (Ibid 5). "Grant, Lord, that all of us who have received tonsure, may remain (p 140) always in your love and may be preserved from all sin". Clothe us again, yourself, Lord, with "the new self that has been created in God's way, in goodness and holiness of the truth" (Eph. 4,24).

Let us pray also for those who are about to be instituted porters "that they may be very attentive to the house of God, both day and night". Let us pray as well for us who have already received this ministry so that we obey the instructions which the bishop has given us during our ordination. "As you use keys to open and to shut the visible Church, so strive by your words and example, to close to the devil and to open to God the invisible building which the hearts of the faithful are".

Let us pray for those who are about to be ordained lectors, that the all-powerful God "kindly pours on them his blessing, that he gives to them the power to proclaim distinctly what they read in the Church of God and the ability to practise it in their conduct". "That instructed and formed by their application to the holy readings, they say what it is necessary to do and accomplish it in their lives, in order that they thus serve your Church by the example of their holiness". Let us pray too for us who are already lectors, so that constantly aware of our ministry, we may carry it out perfectly. "God has the power to increase grace within us right to eternal perfection ... Let us apply ourselves to the word of God ... for the instruction of the faithful and without any error... what our mouth reads, let our hearts believe and let us apply it in our lives: then we will be able to teach our hearers by example as well as by word. That is why, when we read, occupying a raised position in the Church, we symbolize by our attitude the high degree of virtue to which we are called and are for all who hear and see us, models of the heavenly life".

Let us pray too for those who are to become exorcists "so that they may have the power to drive away demons from the bodies of those possessed, in order to be good healers in the Church, confirmed in this gift of healing by the divine power".

Let those of us who are already exorcists, strive, "while we expel demons from others, to reject far from our own minds and bodies every (p 141) impurity and wickedness, so as not to be conquered ourselves by those very demons our ministry puts to flight from others. By our function, let us learn to drive away vices, which the enemy could lay claim to, in our conduct".

Let us pray as well for those who will be ordained acolytes "in order that, while holding the visible light in their hands, they carry also the spiritual light in their lives". "Lord, inflame their minds and their hearts with love of your grace, in order that illuminated by the sight of your splendour, they may serve you faithfully in your Church. Illumine, Lord, their minds as well as the minds of us who are already acolytes by the light of your knowledge, imbue them with the dew of your love, in order that they may strive to "discharge worthily their office. We could not, as a matter of fact, please God, if while presenting him with the light in our hands, we remained slaves to the works of darkness. By acting in this way we would give to others the example of duplicity which would be contrary to the faith". You have certainly said, Lord Jesus: "Your light must shine in the sight of men, so that, seeing your good works, they may give praise to your Father in heaven" (Mt. 5,16). And your Apostle Paul said: "Do all that has to be done ... and then you will be innocent and genuine, perfect children of God among a deceitful and underhand brood, and you will shine in a world like bright stars because you are offering it the word of life" (Ph. 2,14 ff). "See that you are dressed for action", you say to us, Lord, "and have your lamps lit"(Lk. 12,35).

"Let us give up all the things we prefer to do under cover of ~ dark; let us arm ourselves and appear in the light" (Rom. 13,12). "You were in darkness once, but now you are the light of the Lord. Be like children of the light" (Eph. 5,8). What is this light that the Apostle recommends to us so strongly? He explains it himself when he adds: "For the effects of the light are seen in complete goodness and right living and truth" (E h 5 9) Grant then 0 Lord that we may be "attentive to all that is justice, goodness and truth, so that we may be a light for ourselves, for others and for the Church of God", and that we may present worthily (p 142) the wine and water for the sacrifice of the altar, offering ourselves to God in this sacrifice by a chaste life and by good actions.

Lord Jesus, hear these prayers which the bishop will soon pronounce over us in a solemn and public manner so that the people may be witnes-ses to the care the Church has for the sanctity of clerics. Fix in our hearts these words of the bishop, so that we may welcome them as coming from your mouth; grant that we may never forget them.

Holy Angels, lead us yourselves to the feet of the bishop, be witnes-ses both to the obligation which is imposed on us and to our firm resolve to' fulfill it, so that if it happens that we deviate from the straight path, immediately lead us back. And you also, Holy Virgin Mary, accompany us to the orders of the altar and pray to your Son who is the High Priest that he may generously bestow on us the grace of this ordination. Grant that we may be strengthened more and more in the virtues suitable to men of the Church, so that you can, later on, accompany us right to the altar itself. All powerful Virgin, kind Mother, pray that we may have the particular grace of this ordination, the future grace of the priesthood and perseverance to the end in the service of your Son, so that venerating him unceasingly here below, we may merit to take our place in heaven among the elders "prostrated before him who sits on the throne" (Apoc. 4,10) and to adore "the one who lives for ever and ever. .. saying: you are our Lord and our God, you are worthy of glory and honour and power" (Ibid 10-11), for "you alone... are the Most High over all the earth" (Ps. 82, 19). AMEN.

* * *

Let us present ourselves for this ordination with the firm intention of offering ourselves as a sacrifice, by making the resolution to observe exactly the words which, in the name of the Church, the bishop will give to us and to co-operate with the graces which he will beg for us and that the Holy Spirit will pour into in our hearts.

Ejaculatory Prayer: "0 Lord, my alloted portion and my cup, you it is who hold fast my lot" (Ps. 16,5).
EIGHTH TALK

(p 143)

"Finally, brothers, pray for us, pray that the Lord's ~ 1ftfIY spread quickly, and be received with honour as it was among you ... and we, in the Lord, have every confidence that you ~ doing and will go on doing all that we tell you" (2 Thess: 3,1-4).

Let these words of the Apostle, dear sons, be my final words to you. We have arrived at the end of this retreat in which you have received so piously the word of God; my lips are about to fall silent, perhaps forever, since, as you know, I am leaving immediately, for a far-away country.

Dear Sons, the consolation you have given me for many years has been renewed, more, even doubled in the course of this retreat. For the word of God has spread and has been received with honour among you, it has been strengthened in your hearts. Guard the deposit, dear sons, and, present with you, or far away from you, I will rejoice in the Lord, while I pray "that you go out and bear fruit, fruit that will last" (Jn . 15,16). For your part, pray for me, dear sons, "for having been an an-nouncer myself, I should not want to be disqualified" (1 Cor. 9,27).'

"Finally, brothers, pray for us" (above); pray without ceasing and do not forget me for one single day in your prayers, as I will never forget you in whatever perils or places I find myself. I will pray for you espe-cially whenever it will be possible, during the voyage, to offer the holy Sacrifice. I will pray and ask God for all that is necessary so that the desires of your hearts will be accomplished.

Today there is no fear that you are carried away on the dangerous slopes of the human heart which lead to idle and corrupt desires. Your hearts are empty, by the grace of God which the Holy Spirit has poured on you during the retreat; they are empty, I hope, of every vain desire, affection, movement of concupiscence. We want and we desire that (p 144) alone; that the word of God spreads and is glorified.

Let it be glorified in me so that I may never utter lies or errors and that all malice may be far from my mouth; so that I may ever have before my eyes only the truth and right advice, for the glory of God and the salvation of souls. Pray for that and pray also that our ministry may be accomplished according to the designs of Divine Providence as it is among you so that the word of God will be spread and will be honoured among those who know almost nothing of it and are ignorant of Christ.

As for you, "stand up to (the devil), strong in faith" (1 Pt. 5,9) and be "faithful in all things" (1 Tim. 3,11) "with one great assurance" (Ws. 5,1). Do not be a disappointment to our confidence: for "we are per-suaded that you are doing and will go on doing all that we tell you" (2 Thess. 3,4-5). "We urge you and appeal to you in the Lord Jesus to make more and more progress in the kind of life that you are meant to live: the life that God wants, as you learnt from us, and as you are already living it. You have not forgotten the instructions we gave you on the authority of the Lord Jesus. What God wants is for all of you to be holy" (1 Thess. 4, 1-3). What would be the use of this retreat if you were to forget the aspirations to perfection which the Holy Spirit has inspired in you and the spiritual advice you have received, and if you were to return to your former situation? That would be like the seed falling on stony ground: "it withered away, having no moisture" (Lk. 8,6). "Unless you earnestly hold fast to the fear of the Lord, suddenly your house will be thrown down" (Si. 27,3), says Sirach the Sage, and it is going to "become a ruin" (Is. 17,1).

You must build a big and roomy house, dear sons, that is to say the house of your perfection. Already you have put down the foundations for it and the walls are being built; during these days you have certainly added some bricks. Do not leave the work unfinished, but continue and persevere until the finish and you will merit to be the house of God which the Lord will live in for ever. "The work, however, is great, for this castle is not intended for man but for the Lord God" (1 Ch. 29,1).

(p 145)

Perhaps your hearts are troubled and you say: Is perfection not too difficult? How can we put into practice everything we have meditated on during the retreat? Should one not recognize that it is well nigh impossi-ble?

Yes, it is impossible if we consider our weakness alone, dear sons, but God will help us and with the grace of God what is impossible? Besides, recall what we have said about hope and faith. I tell you: perfec-tion, far from being difficult for a man of faith and hope, is very easy, at least up to a certain degree; it is neither hard nor heavy, but on the contrary it is easy and consoling, I certify that Jesus has said it: "My yoke is easy and my burden light" (Mt. 11,30).

Remember what I have said to you many times: perfection consists chiefly in the ordinary things and not in extraordinary and heroic acts which are called for rarely and only from a few people, while perfection must be a general daily work. Look at Jesus whose entire life was inex-pressible perfection. Up to the age of thirty years, he led an ordinary and hidden life. he did manual work and presented himself as the humble son of Mary and Joseph, "he lived under their authority" (Lk. 2, 51). It was said: "this is the carpenter's son, surely?" "Is not his mother the woman called Mary ... ?" It was in this way, by practising humility and obedience that he "increased in wisdom, in stature, and in favour with God and men" (Lk. 2,52). It was not then in doing the extraordinary that he practised perfection to a supreme degree, as he himself testifies: "Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be busy with my Father's affairs?" (Lk. 2,49).

The Father has willed that his well-beloved Son live in a simple and common way in order that he might be the model for the majority of men, who have to live a very ordinary life; in order also that he may be the model of those whom God calls to an exterior work and to a sublime ministry but for whom the major part of life must be ordinary and hid-den. How often did the holy martyrs have to shed their blood? Once only. How many miracles have most of the saints worked? One or two, (p 146) and sometimes only after their death; moreover, the biggest number of Saints who today reign with Christ and whose names we do not even know have never worked miracles. What then have they done? Their entire life was union with God in faith, hope and charity. They imbued with faith and supernatural motivation the ordinary and common be-haviour and rendered it acceptable to God.

The pious author of the book "Christian Perfection" makes the fol-lowing remark: In the past many people have sought the secret for chang-ing iron into gold. This illusory science is called alchemy and the stone which could bring about this marvellous change is called the 'philosopher's stone'. They have worked in vain. But we hold in our hands this stone which can change into gold, not only iron, but bronze, tin, straw and every cheap material. This stone is faith together with a pure intention. In other words, with faith and a pure intention, the ordi-nary actions and common works which in themselves have no value com-pare, in relation to other actions, to wood and iron, and can be trans-formed into supernatural, meritorious, holy, and perfect works which are veritable gold capable of buying heaven.

Paul, eminent Doctor that he was, understood this very well when he wrote: "Whatever you eat, whatever you drink, whatever you do at all, do it for the glory of God" (1 Cor. 10,31). And Saint Augustine proclaimed: "Love and do what you want". It was as if he said: it does not matter what you do, this or that, since everything can be sanctified by faith and charity. Love and simply do today what you must do. Study when you should study, pray when you should pray, go out when you should, remain inside when you should, but love and do all for the glory of God. "There is an appointed time for everything", says Ooheleth, " ... a time to be born, and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot the plant... a time to weep and a time to laugh ... a time to be silent and a time to speak ... a time of war and a time of peace" (Eccl. 3,lff). Nevertheless all the time belongs to God who "reaches from end to end mightily and governs all things well" (Ws. 8,1).

(p 147)

It is true that "any tree that does not produce good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire" (Mt. 7,19), but a good tree does not bear good fruit each day: it does so "in due season" (Ps. 1,3). At other times it is sufficient that the tree has leaves, that it flourishes and continues to develop fruit which will ripen in "due season". "Happy the man", says the Psalmist, "who follows not the counsel of the wicked ... but delights in the law of the Lord and meditates on his law day and night. He is like a tree planted near running water, that yields its fruit in due season" (Ps. 1,1-3).

Dear sons, you are planted in a very pleasant garden from where springs up water "which irrigates" all the surface of the ground" (Gen. 2,6), and a river flows from it "which divides and becomes four branches" (Ibid. 10). This springs is Jesus himself who declares through his apostle: "I will give water from the well of life free to anybody who is thirsty" (Apoc. 21,6), and in his own words: "Anyone who drinks the water that I shall give will never be thirsty again: the water that I shall give will turn into a spring inside him, welling up to eternal life" (Jn . 4,14). "Jesus stood there and cried out: 'If any man is thirsty, let him come to me. Let the man come and drink who believes in me'" (Jn . 7,37-38). The four branches of the river which run out from this admirable spring are faith, hope, love of God and love of neighbour. You are planted alongside these waters, dear sons. Put down deep roots, draw the humus from the earth, make your foliage green, and never cease bearing fruit (cf Jn . 17,8), bring your fruit to full maturity and sweetness "in due season" (above).

Now is the time to be born and to put down deep roots in humility, study, obedience, modesty, meekness, kindness, charity. The time for bearing fruit will soon come; but already the flowers which precede the fruit have appeared: "See, the winter is past, the rains are over and gone. The flowers appear on the earth, the time for pruning the vines has come, and the song of the dove is heard in our land. The fig tree puts forth its figs, and the vines in bloom, give forth fragrance" (Song of (p 148) Songs 2,11-13).

Do not disappoint the trust we have in you, dear sons. Watch and "catch us the foxes, the little foxes that damage the vineyards; for our vineyards are in bloom" (Ibid 15) --that is to say the sins, and even the imperfections, which are like small foxes; destroy them so that they do not wipe out your good resolutions, which are the flowers, the promises of the fruit of perfection. Take care that temptations do not enter your hearts and destroy in you the resolve to good which this retreat has inspired in you. Do not allow your enemies to darken the grace of ordi-nation which you have received this morning and which is for us the sign of the sacerdotal grace which the mercy of God will soon bestow on you. Fence in your plants so that the foxes, rats and serpents do not enter. For the Lord has placed you in this enclosed garden. Do not make holes in the fence in case the evil animals enter and destroy everything.

Please God we will not have to lament one day like the prophet: "My friend had a vineyard ... he spaded it, cleared it of stones and planted the choicest vines. Within it he built a watch-tower, and hewed out a wine press. Then he looked for the crop of grapes, but what it yielded was sour grapes" (Is. 5,1-2). Let that not happen. The Lord would bring us to trial and would say of us before his Angels: "Now inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard. What more was there to do for my vineyard that I have not done? Why, when I looked for the crop of grapes, did it bring forth wild grapes? Now, I will let you know what I mean to do to my vineyard: take away its hedge, give it to grazing, break through its wall, let it be trampled. Yes I will make it a ruin: it shall not be pruned or hoed, but overgrown with thorns and briars; I will command the clouds not to send rain upon it" (Ibid. 3-6).

In order that you bear fruit "in due season", dear sons, good grapes and not bad ones, I repeat: put down your roots deep in the holy soil enriched by the blood of Christ; not in wonderful and heroic actions that one cannot produce each day, but in the ordinary actions accomplished (p 149) daily in faith, for God, with God and in God Look to God unceasingly, march always under his gaze: "Walk in my presence and be blameless" (Gn.17,1). God sees everything, surveys everything: "If anyone gives so much as a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is a disciple, then I tell you solemnly, he will certainly not lose his reward" (Mt.10,42), says Christ. Nothing is small which is done in the name of the Lord; nothing is small when it is raised above nature by faith.

If I were to say to you, to be perfect, you must, like Saint Theresa, ascend to the heaven of sublime contemplation, or, like Saint Francis Xavier, cross the seas to lands unknown to you, or even, descend into the depths of the abyss, like the Apostle who three times was ship-wrecked (cf 2 Cor. 11, 25), you would answer me: Alas. We are too weak; we are not able. But I do not say that to you: "This command which I enjoin on you today is not too mysterious and remote for you. It is not up in the sky; that you should say, 'who will go up in the sky, to get it for us and tell us of it. .. nor is it across the sea, that you should say, 'who will cross the sea to get it for us?' ... No, it is something very near to you, already in your mouths and in your hearts; you have only to carry it out" (Deut. 30, 11ff). Listen to the commandment and judge whether it is very difficult. If any indecent image presents itself to you, close your eyes. Is it difficult to close your eyes? If the bell signals the time for silence, be silent. Is it difficult to be silent? And so on. If I were to say: you must learn all theology in ten days-- my command would be impossible. But I will rather say: today study two or three pages, tomor-row two or three more pages and so on for the days which follow, for "each day has enough trouble of its own" (Mt. 6,34). Where is the diffi-culty? If I were to say: fast each day, chastise your body by scourging right to shedding blood; stay awake singing the psalms until after mid-night. But no, I do not say that. Rise, I say, at five o'clock, fast some-times, mortify your body in moderation following the advice of a prudent man; sing the psalms with piety and devotion on Sundays and feast-days, at the principal Mass and a Vespers. Who will say that that IS difficult? What then do I ask you, dear sons? In order that you be perfect at least (p 150) with the relative perfection which one can expect from you, do what you do each day, but do it well, in a supernatural way, in faith, for God, through charity. Love and do what you want.

Suppose - something which is not God's will - that one of you were to be damned (this suggestion alone arouses horror and produces sad-ness). That unfortunate person would be damned in doing the same things as his co-disciples who, as righteous men, "will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father" (Mt. 13,43). The unfortunate man would be thrown "into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and grinding of teeth" (Mt. 13,42), while he rose each day at five o'clock, while he prayed on his knees, at least with his lips, while he participated at Mass, at least physically, clothed in surplice, while he studied during study time, while he took his meals like the others. Where then would such a great and painful difference arise? From where? From the fact that his heart was corrupted and not turned towards God; from the fact that his intention was not pure; because he did everything out of pride or ambition, or at least in a natural fashion, without faith and without thinking of God. From outside appearances, he would seem to be a pious and holy person perhaps; but inside he would be bad, resembling "white-washed tombs, that look handsome on the outside, but inside are full of dead men's bones and every kind of corruption" (Mt. 23,27).

Dear Sons, "All the glory of the king's daughter is within her" (Ps. 45,14 Latin version), says the Psalmist. This means that the glory of the soul, which is the daughter of the King of Heaven, will be judged from the purity of heart and from the right intention. These words are applied very rightly to the Blessed Virgin Mary whose life was complete perfec-tion in the ordinary things. She is the most perfect of all creatures. Queen of angels and saints, exalted above cherubim and seraphim and yet she had no glory on earth. All her glory was within her soul.

What has made Mary extraordinary? Nothing or almost nothing is said of her. She was a humble young girl, when the heavens, speechless with admiration, gazed upon the Archangel who was sent to her. "The (p 151) Angel Gabriel was sent by God ... to a virgin betrothed to a man ... and the virgin's name was Mary" (Lk. 1,26-27). In her pious and humble heart she pondered the words of her divine Son: "His Mother stored up all these things in her heart" (Lk. 2,51). It is thus that she became Queen of Apostles, Prophets and other Saints and of all those who have been sanctified by the hearing of the Word and "her care". She is also Queen of Martyrs, She whose death was not violent; it was her soul that the sword will pierce (cf Lk. 2,35), when she stands at the foot of the Cross (cf Jn . 19,25).

o very perfect ordinary life which opened the womb of Mary to the Incarnation of the Word and the doors of heaven to the outstanding glory of the Mother of God. "Lift up, 0 gates, your lintels; reach up you ancient portals" (Ps. 24,7). Behold the Virgin of virgins, the Spouse of spouses. "You are all beautiful, my beloved, and there is no blemish in you. Come from Lebanon, my bride, come from Lebanon, come". (Song of Songs 4,7-8). This voice of the spouse has made itself heard, and Mary has been raised above the heavens; bending down, the angels have given respect; the thrones have placed her seat above theirs and she is crowned queen of heaven. Her prophecy has been fulfilled: "For the Almighty has done great things for me. Holy is his name" (Lk. 1,49).

Rash and senseless would be the one who would pretend to practise one single virtue as Mary practised all of them. Yet, there is nothing in the life of Mary which, to a degree corresponding to our frailty, we cannot imitate, since her whole life was ordinary and common. The life of some other saints offers us examples which are always admirable but not capable of being imitated always or by everybody.

Dear sons, always have your eyes fixed on Mary. Let her be our hope and our refuge in our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. In her we find a model and a help. For she is our Mother and the Mother of Jesus, son of God, who is himself God. Our Mother can never reject us while God her Son cannot reject the prayer of his Mother. In our needs, temptations, afflictions, desolations, let us run with confidence to Mary; she will be our consolation and our strength. In joys, bliss, exultation let us run to Mary; (p 152) she will take care that we do not forget God in the midst of our mirth.

You want to be pious and to pursue perfection; you want to keep the good resolutions which the Holy Spirit has inspired in your hearts these days and to put them into practice; you want to be sons, not slaves, you want to be disciples of Christ and worthy ministers of the Church. Dear sons, put your resolutions into the hands of Mary. She is the source of piety and "what can come from the source of piety except piety" says Saint Bernard.

o Mary, exclaimed Saint Peter Damian "All the treasures of the goodness of God are in your hands". So, Mary most pure, I, the least of your sons, have confided in your hands all my sons, my treasure. In my absence keep them healthy in body and soul. Dear sons, I leave you with Mary, so that, when I come back, if it is God's will that I make the sea journey to and fro without mishap, I will find you healthy and holy; I say holy, you are holy now, and I trust you will be more holy, since you must make progress each day "in wisdom, in stature, and in favour with God and men" (Lk. 2,52). Dear sons, I recommend you to Mary, I leave you to her, I consecrate you to Mary.

To close the retreat let us go to the Church where we will sing the "Te Deum" and let us thank God for all the blessings which he has poured into our hearts in the course of these last three days, and let us pray, dear sons, that "the grace of the Lord Jesus be with you all" always (Apoc. 22,21). AMEN.

