being, " a little lower than the angel." Thou dost sustain me every moment, lest I should fall back into my original nothingness. When I was lost in my sin, thou, the co-equal Son of the eternal Father, didst give thyself for me, taking upon thee my feeble nature, that thou mightest suffer in my stead. Oh, what bitter sufferings didst thou undergo for me in the garden and on the cross! [Here pause awhile to meditate briefly on some principal sufferings of our Lord, especially such as may in any way resemble your own; for instance, loss, or ingratitude of friends, calumnies, reproaches, desolation of spirit, &c.] O my bountiful and most loving Lord, can it be that such excess of love should not move me to such poor return as I can make thee! Yes, Lord, I will love thee, because thou didst first love me. I will try to love thee, as thou hast commanded, with all my heart, all my mind, all my soul, and all my strength. I protest before thee, that henceforth neither tribulation, nor distress, nor persecution, nor life, nor death, nor any created thing, shall be able to separate me from thee, my beginning and my end. Quench, then, by thy Holy Spirit, all love of the world and of myself which still reigns within me; enable me to bear thy sweet yoke, that I may learn of thee to be meek and humble of heart. Pierce my soul with a deep sense of my own wretchedness, that so I may learn to esteem others better than myself.
O meek and humble Heart of my Jesus! O Heart of love, teach me to love thee. Be henceforth the moving principle of my heart; shape all its desires and inactions according to thine own, till at length it comes to be absorbed in the abyss of pure love for all eternity. Amen.
Prayer of St. Gertrude to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
O Sacred Heart of Jesus! living and life-giving fountain of eternal life, infinite treasure of the divinity, glowing furnace of love! Thou art my refuge and my sanctuary. O my adorable and lovely Saviour! consume my heart with that burning fire wherewith thine is ever inflamed; pour down on my soul those graces
