ments, yet whose hands are empty before God, because they do their own will, and not his; because their devotion is little better than sloth, which leads them, under cover of piety, to neglect those duties which God has allotted them, and which should be their conscientious pursuit and their glory.
In the public life of Jesus Christ, which was a series of miracles and wonders, humility, patience, mortification, meekness, and unexampled charity, were lessons which he never ceased to preach to the world. The imitation of Jesus Christ in this respect is a point of the utmost importance, because charity was a favourite virtue of Jesus— the virtue to which he sacrificed his life — the virtue by which he would have his real followers distinguished — and the virtue also which St. Francis of Sales calls the peculiar fruit of a good communion. Resolve, then, that the fruits of your having been so lately united to the God of Charity should appear evident by your gentleness, patience, forbearance, silence on the defects of others, and endeavours to serve and oblige all, particularly those who may appear to you least amiable or deserving. Conclude this meditation, by fervently and humbly begging of God to impress the truths it contains so deeply on your heart, that your ideas and conduct may, in future, be happily regulated by them.
Third Day.
On the Danger of not corresponding with the graces received in the holy Communion.
First Point. — Consider, that Christians in general frustrate more or less the designs of Christ in instituting this mystery of love; some by constantly relapsing into mortal sin after their Communion;
