because we pray with you to-day. COLLOQUY.

with so little heart.

Let it not be so

SEPTEMBER 9.

JESUS WARNS HIS DISCIPLES AGAINST SCANDALS.

1st Prel. Consider Jesus saying, 'Woe to the world because of scandals.'

2d Prel. Ask for a great fear of giving scandal, and grace to avoid it.

POINT I. Scandal in the World.

CONSIDERATION. The sweet innocence of the little child which Jesus had set in the midst of the Apostles as their pattern and exemplar caused Him to denounce those who scandalise others, and especially those who scandalise children. Listen to His words: 'He that shall scandalise one of these little ones that believe in Me, it were better for him that a millstone should be hanged about his neck, and that he should be drowned in the depths of the sea. Woe to the world because of scandals. It must needs be'-He knew the corruption of the world-'that scandals come; but nevertheless woe to that man by whom the scandal cometh.'

APPLICATION. You would share our Lord's indignation against scandal, and those who give it, and you would feel that horror of it which He wishes you to feel, if you reflected on the malice and dreadful consequences of this sin. 'Sinful above measure'—Super modum peccans peccatum. The fathers, too, speak in terms equally severe of those who give scandal; they call them emissaries and missioners of the devil-devils incarnate, because they lead others into sin as much or even more than the devil does himself-assassins of the soul, a thousandfold more guilty than murderers of the body-antichrists, undoing the work of Christ-a living plague, spreading every where infection and death.

In all the years that you have lived in the world have you never given scandal or been scandalised yourself? AFFECTIONS and RESOLUTIONS.

POINT II. Scandal in the Cloister.

CONSIDERATION. When our Lord said so sorrowfully, 'Woe to the world because of scandals,' did He not think also of religious communities? Is scandal impossible, is it unknown there? Alas, no; for the simple reason that members of such communities are naturally prone to become lax, and so set a bad example. And this of itself is sufficient to commit the sin of scandal. You may not have a direct intention of leading others into sin, but if (as St. Thomas says), either by word, act, or omission, you become an occasion of sin to another, you are guilty of scandal. A Superior, for instance, commits it, if through negligence or weakness he fails to correct abuses which have crept in, for he is the cause of the laxity and disorders which follow, and become permanent and irremediable. A religious commits it, who, having more or less influence, openly and habitually infringes certain points of the rule of discipline, since others will soon follow him and become as lax as he is; he commits it, who, by his captious criticisms and discontented murmurings, weakens in his brethren the principles of authority and religious obedience; he commits it, who, by his way of ridiculing his Superiors, or the practices of humility, mortification, penance, and devotion customary in his convent, causes the want of seriousness in everything, and the total loss of all proper respect.

APPLICATION. See if you have not been, in some way, guilty of scandal. If you have, ask pardon for it; do your utmost to repair the mischief you have done. On the other hand, never let a bad example influence you or turn you aside. Follow rather the Blessed Berchmans, who drew good out of evil by redoubling his efforts to avoid the sins which he saw in others. COLLOQUY.

SEPTEMBER 10.

OUR LORD'S DIRECTIONS FOR CORRECTION AND PARDON. 1st Prel. Picture to yourself Jesus surrounded by His Apostles. 2d Prel. Ask for the spirit of discernment and charity.

POINT I. Rules for Correction.

CONSIDERATION. Our Lord talked to His Apostles the whole way from Capharnaum to Jerusalem. He feared lest His denunciation of scandal givers should lead the Apostles to hate them. To remedy this, He showed how His law was emphatically a law of love; that we ought to pity and pray for those who are a cause of offence to us rather than to hate them; that we should do all in our power to bring them to a better mind, especially by a brotherly rebuke. He thought this of so much importance that He gave them detailed directions concerning it: If thy brother shall offend against thee, go, and rebuke him between thee and him alone. If he shall hear thee, thou shalt gain thy brother. And if he will not hear thee, take with thee one or two more that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may stand. And if he will not hear them, tell the Church; and if he will not hear the Church, let him be to thee as the heathen and publican.'

APPLICATION. Our Lord would seem here to point out the way in which the shepherds of the flock should deal with those who trouble it, especially with innovators and dogmatisers. They should first reprove them in private for their errors or scandals; if this fails, they should reprove them before witnesses, and even denounce them; if still they continue obstinate, they should be condemned or excommunicated by a solemn sentence. Laud and magnify the wisdom of this rule which for eighteen centuries has preserved unbroken the faith and unity of the Church. Consider it now in reference to religious, who are especially subject to bro

therly reproof. If you see a brother going astray, or committing any fault which could scandalise or mislead the others, tell him his fault privately; if he will not listen to you, do it before a third person; if you see that your remonstrances are wholly ineffectual, lay the case before the Superior. This is the method traced out for you by Jesus Christ. Have you adopted it? Have you not, on the contrary, failed in your duty either through indifference, or by contenting yourself with despising your brother, making no effort to correct him? or by publishing secret faults to those who have no authority in the matter, or by exaggerating them through anger? And when you have been personally offended, have you not been unwilling or refused to make the first advance? Or, if you are in a position of authority over the rest of the community, over pupils or servants, have you not reproved them in public without real necessity, without tact; or in private with heat and sharpness? These are points for self-examination before God.

AFFECTIONS and RESOLUTIONS.

POINT II. Rules for Forgiveness.

CONSIDERATION. How often should we forgive? How should we forgive? The Apostles seemed to think that our Lord had not been sufficiently clear upon these points. Peter, speaking in the name of the rest, asked, Lord, how often shall my brother offend against me, and I forgive him? Till seven times? Jesus saith to him, I say not to thee, till seven times; but till seventy times seven.' That is to say, always; and always from the bottom of your heart-Ex cordibus vestris.

APPLICATION. If we carry out our Lord's directions we shall only be doing to our brother what He Himself does to us through the instrumentality of His minister in the confessional. We present ourselves there so often, and so often to accuse ourselves of the same faults; and yet He has always forgiven us, and is

always ready to do so again, if He sees that we are humble and contrite, and that unreservedly.

In the Colloquy which we are about to make with Him, let us bless and magnify His inexhaustible goodness, patience, and generosity; blushing at our own unwillingness to forgive the little wrongs that we have received-we, who have wronged Him so terribly; thinking with shame of the pardons we have granted, and then wholly or in part withdrawn, by bringing up again and resenting old offences. Promise to do better. Ask for grace to help you.

COLLOQUY with our divine and loving Lord.

SEPTEMBER 11.

PARABLE OF THE UNMERCIFUL SERVANT.

1st Prel. Picture to yourself Jesus uttering this parable. 2d Prel. Ask for grace to gain great benefits from this Meditation.

POINT I. The Mercy and Generosity of the King.

CONSIDERATION. What our Lord had said of the necessity of forgiving, and the gross injustice of those who refuse to do so, was plain enough. But He wished to bring it home to them still further by a parable: Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened to a king who would take an account of his servants. And when he had begun to take the account, one was brought to him that owed him ten thousand talents. And as he had not wherewith to pay it, his lord commanded that he should be sold, and his wife and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made. But the servant falling down, besought him, saying, Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. And the lord of that servant, being moved with pity, let him go, and forgave him the debt.'

APPLICATION. 1st. This king, who so unexpectedly