of its Creator, is by frequently consecrating all its powers to his honour and glory; by making use of your memory to recall the benefits and mercies of God; by employing your understanding in meditating on his holy law, that you may model your life on all it prescribes; and by renouncing your will so perfectly, as to have no other will than the will of God. But the victim of thanksgiving which God peculiarly requires from you, is your heart and all its affections. This is the sacrifice which will give value to every other, and without which all others would be vain: it is that which above all others you should endeavour to make perfectly, because it is the offering which God himself condescends to ask: Son, give me thy heart. Consider how early you were taught to say: My God, I give thee my heart. These are the first words you daily utter, still perhaps you have not yet really offered your whole heart to God. Ah! delay no longer: to whom does it so justly belong? who ever loved you so much as God? who can make you happy, but God? O divine Lord ! how true it is, that I have never been satisfied but when I endeavoured to serve thee, to act for thee, to give myself to thee. How sincerely I regret having ever cast away a single thought, a single affection, or a single moment of my existence, on any object less than thee, my Creator and my God ! Penetrated with gratitude for that infinite mercy which induced thee to give thyself to me in the adorable Eucharist, I most fervently wish that I could make thee a sacrifice worthy of thyself; but as that is impossible — as thou knowest my poverty, and wilt be content with the little I can give, permit me to offer thee my whole being, my body, my soul, my life, my actions, my will, and above all, my heart and affections. O
