approach thee with confidence, because I am convinced that the constant view of the eternal God become a child for our love, has filled thy heart with paternal tenderness for all those whom he honoured, and instructed by the example of his early life. O glorious model and patron of God’s greatest saints! thou dost not disdain to become the particular patron of youth, because the sacred infancy of Christ was the source of thy glory, and the object of thy tender devotion. Receive me, then, into thy venerable arms, for the love of the divine Infant who so often reposed on thy bosom. Take me as thy child, for the sake of him whose submission to thy will and dependence on thy care so exalted thee. I, on my part, most fervently offer thee my heart, and all my thoughts, words, and actions of this day, which I particularly consecrate to thee, as a small testimony of my respect and filial love. Present me, O blessed Saint, to Jesus, and obtain for me a share in the virtues and amiable dispositions of his divine childhood, that I may thereby become less unworthy to call thee my Father. Be thou, O glorious Guardian of the Word made Flesh! my special protector; not alone amidst the many dangers of my youth, but throughout my life. Implore for me a particular devotion to thy Virgin Spouse, and the grace to imitate so faithfully her virtues and thine, that at the hour of my death, I may be entitled to look up to her and to thee with an humble confidence. When that awful hour of my departure from this world arrives, obtain for me, O glorious St. Joseph! a small share in the profound peace, holy confidence, and ardent love which the actual presence of Jesus and Mary infused into thy soul at thy consoling death, and do not cease to be my dear blessed pro-
