13.— On the Grace of God.
" We do exhort you, that you receive not the grace of God in vain." — 2 Corinthians vi. 1.
[St. Aelred. — This great saint was born in the year 1169, in the north of England. Descended from a noble family, and having received an excellent education, he soon obtained a valuable appointment in the court of David I., king of Scotland. The seeds of virtue having been planted within him by a pious mother, he was enabled to battle against the corruptions of the world; and even before he determined to withdraw himself from the temptations, of a courtier's life, he ever preserved that favourite virtue of our Saviour's, namely, humility. In addition to this, he possessed an unalterable meekness, which, according to the Gospel, is inseparable from humility.
In order to detach himself from the world, he quitted Scotland and went to Rieval, in the county of York. Here he entered the Cistercian order, and placed himself under the guidance of William, a disciple of the glorious St. Bernard.
In 1142, he was elected Abbot of Revesby, in the county of Lincoln. He died in the year 1166, aged 57, having been abbot for the space of twenty- two years. Benedict XIV., in approving of the martyrology of the Cistercian order, calls attention to the learning, innocence, and humility of St. AElred. The same Pope adds, that God crowned the virtues of His servant, with the gifts of prophecy and miracles.]
St. AElred describes the state of his soul before he resolved to leave the world, its pomps, and vanities. In the Life of the Saint by Godescard, the saint says: —
Those who looked only at the external grandeur which
