Reflections for every Day in the Month.
FIRST DAY: ON FAITH.
1. All that faith teaches is grounded on the authority of the word of God. It is from Christ himself that the Church has learned whatever she proposes to the faithful as the object of their belief. When truth itself is the guide, one cannot go astray; and there is nothing more reasonable than to submit reason to faith.
2. Of what use is faith to Christian, if it be not the rule of his conduct? If it be the most consummate folly to doubt of a doctrine which God has revealed, which so many martyrs have sealed with their blood, and which the devils themselves have so often confessed, is it not downright madness to believe this doctrine, and yet live as if it were supposed to be false? Not to live conformably to our belief, is to believe as the damned do.
3. Faith, then, shall henceforth be the sole principle of my actions, and the only rule of my life. Whatever it condemns, I also absolutely condemn. In spite of every natural repugnance I will oppose the maxims of the Gospel to those of the world, as often as the opportunity presents itself. What does the world say? Follow the natural bent of your inclination: suffer nothing, & c. But what doth Jesus Christ say? Quite the contrary. Who is right? Jesus Christ, or the world? [ Thank God for being incorporated with his Church, and recite the Creed slowly, as a solemn profession of your faith.]
“ Lord, increase my faith ” (Luke xvii. ).
“ What does it avail to believe like a Catholic, and yet to live like a heathen? " ( Peter Dam. )
SECOND DAY: ON THE END OF MAN.
1. God alone is our last end: he did not create us but for him self. Our hearts tell us that we were made for him: we cannot disown him without belying ourselves.
2. Every one should have what justly belongs to him: let us then give ourselves to God, since it is he who has a right to us. If we be not his children of our own accord, we must be his slaves in despite of us. We must of necessity live under the dominion of his justice or of his bounty. Which choice shall we make?
3. Every thing should tend to its proper object, and act according to its nature. If the sun, which is made to shine, refused its light to the world, it would be a monster in the universe: nor is that heart less monstrous, which being made for God, still refuses to belong to him. Do I behave myself as a creature which belongs to God? Are my thoughts and all my
