Page:Withgodbookofpra00las.djvu/450

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

to imitate the virtues of the Sacred Heart of Jesus; resolve to become more like to Jesus. Offer Him your heart and ask Him to make it like to His own most sacred Heart. Resolve to struggle valiantly against your predominant passion and your evil inclinations. Be generous in your sacrifices for the love of God, and He will be generous in His rewards — generous in accordance with His infinite goodness and power.

If you love God, you will keep His commandments. That is the visible proof of charity. Love can not rest in words — it must go out into action. If you love God, you will do something for Him. Love is ingenious at finding ways in which to show itself. It manifests itself in acts of praise, in acts of self-denial, in acts of kindness to God's other creatures. Love without works is dead.

Approach Our Lord with confidence and ask Him for whatever temporal and spiritual favors you desire, but above all things pray for the gift of final perseverance. The love and the grace of God are the most precious gifts. Seek ye first the kingdom of God and all these things shall be added unto you " (Luke xii, 31). In your sufferings and in your prayers resolve to say with Christ in the Garden: " Not my will but Thine be done." Saints and spiritual writers agree that in holy Mass and after communion our prayers are most acceptable and most likely to be granted.

ACT OF FAITH

O JESUS, my God and my Saviour, Thy word is Truth. I firmly believe that this is Thy sacred body and blood which I have just received, and that Thou art now really