as much sequestered from creatures as duty will allow; a life hidden, absorbed in God; a life suited to the condition of a victim; entirely spent in adoration of thy Father's excellence; in a profound annihilation of myself; in an humble penitential state on account of my sins; in continual sighs and groans, by reason of my wretchedness; in incessant prayers and supplications, invoking thee for my many wants; in an inviolable obedience to the will of my Creator, with respect to my duties; in a privation of earthly comforts, ever dying to the world, to sin, and to concupiscence; ever living to God, and to heavenly and eternal objects; ever absorbed in the contemplation of the perfections of God; and ever burning with love in the ardour of charity, O may my condition in this deceitful world resemble, as much as possible, thine in this holy sacrament: having eyes, ears, a tongue, hands, feet, and a heart, let me neither see, hear, speak of, feel, seek after, or attach myself to any of those objects which are so much the delight and admiration of deluded worldlings. Perhaps, dearest Lord, the present day may be the last of my life: if so, thy most holy will be done. I accept of death with entire submission as to the day, the hour, the manner, thy providence shall ordain. I come to make a previous sacrifice of my death to thy Eternal Father, in union with thine. I come to declare to him that I am disgusted with the world, of which I was formerly so fond, and that I leave it with pleasure for the sake of enjoying my God; that my desires and inclinations are weaned from this earth, and that henceforward my ardent desire shall be to go and behold him for ever. As it is thou, my Jesus, whom I now happily receive, who holdest the keys of life and death, and allottest
