and a plenary Indulgence on Easter Sunday, they having confessed and communicated on that day, praying for Holy Church. These Indulgences are perpetual, and applicable to the holy souls in purgatory.
The Passion of our Lord.
According to the opinion of the holy fathers and doctors of the Church, there is no more efficacious or useful means by which to progress in the way of salvation than the frequent remembrance of, and meditation on, the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is sufficient for us to know how St. Augustin expresses himself on this subject (lib. ii. Advers. Manich. c. xxii.). " I have found," he says, "no more effectual consolation in all my adversities than the wounds of Jesus Christ. I sleep in them with assurance, and I rest in them without fear. Jesus Christ has died for us. There is nothing so bitter that it may not be made sweet by the death of Christ. All my hope is built on the death of my Lord. His death is my merit, my refuge, my salvation, my life, and my resurrection. The mercy of our Lord is my merit. I shall not be wanting in merit as long as our Lord ceases not to be merciful to me; and since the mercies of our Lord are great, my merit is also great." The greater is his power to save us, the safer am I. If this or that unpleasant thought pursues and troubles me, I run to take refuge in the wounds of Jesus Christ. If my evil inclinations weigh me down, I again raise myself by the remembrance of the wounds of my Saviour. If Satan secretly torments me, I confide in the most intimate mercy of my Lord, and he does not forsake me. If the sting of concupiscence attacks me, it is deadened by the remembrance of the wounds of my Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God." St. Bernard says (Serm. 2 in Epiph.): " As for me, my brothers, from the- very commencement of my conversion, perceiving that I was wanting in virtue, I appropriated to myself this nosegay of myrrh, composed of all the sufferings and bitter sorrows of my Saviour, and I fastened it on my breast. As long as I live, its remembrance will never be effaced from my memory. I have found that wisdom consisted in meditating on these
