crosses that it pleases God to send us, and we shall only certainly obtain a large share in the gifts of His liberality. AFFECTIONS and RESOLUTIONS. POINT III. Reform of Carmel made by St. Teresa. CONSIDERATION. The ancient and illustrious order of Carmel, after its translation into the West (1229), and owing to the troubles of the times, had lost much of its primitive spirit. God inspired St. Teresa to revive it; and one of the greatest marvels of her life is that she succeeded in causing a very austere reform to be accepted, not only by women, but by men, who recognise her also as their mother. She had to overcome obstacles on all sides. She had to endure many troubles, labours, and mortifications during the last twenty years of her life, which were consecrated to this difficult work. However, her large heart and her confidence in God, together with a wonderful skill in the management of business, carried her through it all. She had the consolation before she went to heaven, of seeing firmly established seventeen convents of women and fifteen of men, which she had founded herself. After her death, the number greatly increased, and at this day we see the order of Carmel flourishing, producing men and women distinguished by their virtues, their talents, and their success in the sacred ministry. APPLICATION. Let us bless God for what He effected in St. Teresa, and by her in others. Let us congratulate her, and desire that we also may do some great thing for God, or at least sanctify ourselves. COLLOQUY. OCTOBER 16. SPIRITUAL ADVICE OF ST. TERESA. 1st Prel. Behold St. Teresa writing her spiritual advice. 2d Prel. Beg the grace of making this advice the rule of your conduct. POINT I. Advice by which to regulate our Words. CONSIDERATION. Among the numerous writings of St. Teresa, which are no less admirable and edifying than her life, we find the advice or the rules concerning perfection which she left as a pledge of her love to the children of Carmel. Let us profit by them, and meditate to-day on some of them. Advice on the use of the tongue. Speak little, especially when you are with many people. Never praise yourself, your knowledge, your good actions, or your birth, unless you have reason to hope that it may be of use, and then do it humbly, remembering that these are all the gifts of God. Never excuse yourself, unless there is some strong reason for doing so. Avoid all disputes, and especially in things of little consequence. Speak to everybody with quiet cheerfulness. Never exaggerate things, nor assert anything without being very sure of it. Never speak without thinking what you are going to say, that nothing which can offend may escape you. When any one speaks on spiritual subjects, listen to him with humility. In your discourse, and in the conversations in which you have to take part, always mingle some words which treat of spiritual life, for by this you will avoid idle words and detraction. APPLICATION. After having weighed the wisdom of this advice, put it in practice: see how far you act upon it; then in what you can and will act upon it still further. AFFECTIONS and RESOLUTIONS. POINT II. Advice by which to regulate our Actions. CONSIDERATION. Accommodate yourself to the dispositions of the people you have to deal with, and do. all you can to gain everybody. Avoid singularity as far as possible, for it is a great evil in the community. Do everything as if you really saw God before you, for it is a sure means of making great progress in virtue. Never let the devotion you have in your heart appear, unless there is some great necessity for it. My secret is my own,' said St. Bernard and St. Francis. Avoid curiosity in things which do not concern you; avoid hearing about them. Be gentle to others, severe towards yourself. If you are a Superior, never reprove any one while you are angry, but wait till you are calm. Let your joy be always humble, gentle, modest, and edifying. Make known all your temptations, imperfections, and repugnances to your Superior and your confessor, that they may give you counsel. Never eat and drink except at the appointed times. Never leave off humbling and mortifying yourself in all things until death; and have a particular devotion to St. Joseph. APPLICATION. These rules of conduct are not at all above my strength, and I feel what advantages I should derive from following them-peace for my own soul, and edification for my neighbour. AFFECTIONS and RESOLUTIONS. POINT III. Advice for regulating our Thoughts and CONSIDERATION. Think during the day on what you have meditated in the morning. Often make acts of love for God. Do not think of the imperfections of others, but only of their virtues; as far as regards yourself, think only of your faults. Think that you have but one soul, that you will die but once, that you have but one life, which is short; that there is but one glory, which is eternal; and you will easily detach and you will find Him. yourself from things of earth. Seek God in all things, Let your desire be to see God, your fear be to lose Him, your sorrow not yet to possess Him, your joy all that can lead you to Him; and you will live in great peace. APPLICATION. Make the resolution, after a careful examination, to reform all that is contrary in you to these rules of wisdom. COLLOQUY. OCTOBER 17. PARABLE OF THE GROAT LOST AND FOUND. 1st Prel. Behold our Divine Lord speaking this parable, 2d Prel. Beg the grace of fully understanding its sense and application. POINT I. The Groat is the Type of sanctifying Grace. 6 CONSIDERATION. The parable of the lost groat has the same end as that of the lost sheep, but the application of the types are different. What woman,' said our Lord, still addressing the Pharisees, having ten groats, if she lose one groat, doth not light a candle, and sweep the house, and seek diligently until she find it?' Interpreters tell us that this woman is the type of the Christian who has lost sanctifying grace; but how far short is the type from the reality! The groat is but a piece of money of small value, and sanctifying grace is of infinite price; it is the price of the Blood of our Blessed Lord. The first can only procure us some few earthly advantages; the second can give us the right to a heavenly inheritance; and yet this woman thinks it a great misfortune to have lost her groat, and will take no rest till she hath found it. APPLICATION. Terrible is the blindness and misery of many Christians who have lost sanctifying grace by mortal sin; lost it for weeks, for months, for years perhaps, and who do nothing to recover it. They are indeed miserable; for in losing it they have lost God's friendship, lost the right they had acquired in holy baptism to the kingdom of heaven, and the abyss of hell is yawning beneath their feet. If death surprises them in this state, their damnation is certain. Let us compassionate their blindness, and make it practical by seizing every occasion of enlightening them, inspiring them with salutary fear, or at least praying for them. AFFECTIONS and RESOLUTIONS. POINT II. The Groat a Type of the Grace of Devotion. CONSIDERATION. In the woman in this parable we can see, in the second place, the religious who has lost the grace of devotion, or that piety and unction which made him so happy in his vocation, which made the practice of virtue so easy to him, which united him to God even in the midst of a turmoil of business, which made him find a charm not only in his spiritual duties, but even in humiliations, mortifications, and privations of all kinds. APPLICATION. There is no loss we ought to feel so sensibly as the loss of this grace of devotion, because it is the source of all our blessings. And yet in what way do we try to recover it when we have lost it? Are we not contented with groaning over or complaining of our aridity, of saying with Job, Who will grant me that I might be as in the days of my youth' (i.e., my first fervour), 'when the Almighty was with me?' Let us do better than this; let us resume our habits of regularity, recollection, and mortification, and especially of our fidelity in performing our spiritual duties; and we shall recover the lost groat, the grace of devotion. AFFECTIONS and RESOLUTIONS. POINT III. Finding the Groat a Type of the Joy CONSIDERATION. Consider the joy that this woman |