JULY 12.

SERMON ON THE MOUNTAIN: EXACT OBSERVANCE OF THE

LAW.

1st Prel. Behold Jesus seated on the mountain.

2d Prel. Beg for a great esteem and ardent love of religious discipline.

POINT I. Fidelity to every Point of Discipline.

CONSIDERATION. 'Do not think that I am come to destroy the law. I say unto you, until heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall not pass of the law till all be fulfilled.' These words teach us that an exact observance of the rule and religious discipline is pleasing to our Lord. In fact, what distinguishes us from seculars is, that we give up for the love of God our liberty even in the smallest details of our life; we bear the yoke of the rule, and of community-life; and hence it is that the Church gives us the name of regulars. We falsify, then, both our name and the engagements we have contracted before God and before the Church, if we make little account of certain points of religious discipline or of rule.

APPLICATION. Examine yourself upon your disposition in respect to the observances of community-life. To form a correct judgment, it is well to go into details. Are you exact in rising promptly and with devotedness? in going to the different exercises at the first sound of the bell,-to the visit to the Blessed Sacrament, meditation, prayers said in common? Are you faithful in observing silence, modesty, and religious gravity?

AFFECTIONS and RESOLUTIONS.

POINT II. Dangers of the least Infraction of religious Discipline.

CONSIDERATION. Meditate earnestly on these words of our Lord, which follow those just quoted: 'He therefore that shall break one of these least command

ments, and shall so teach men, shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven; for I tell you that unless your justice abound more than that of the Scribes and Pharisees, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.' Then consider what the author of the Imitation says: A religious man that lives not in discipline' (that is, who excuses himself from what is irksome to him) lies open to dreadful ruin. He who does not shun small defects, by little and little falls into greater.' Then you will understand the presumption and peril of an habitual neglect of certain points of rule-peril for yourself, and peril for others from your bad example.

APPLICATION. If you feel yourself guilty, try to discover the source of the evil, that you may remedy it. Generally it is dissipation which destroys the interior life: then our spiritual duties are performed negligently; there is a void in the heart, which we try to fill by seeking for intercourse with seculars, under some idle excuse of zeal or propriety; then it naturally follows that we excuse the great evils that prevail in the world, to excuse our own infidelity to the rule, looking on them as trifles.

AFFECTIONS and RESOLUTIONS.

POINT III. Advantages of a strict observance of

Discipline.

CONSIDERATION. Meditate further on the following words of our Divine Master: 'He that shall do and teach them (ie., the smallest precepts) shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven;' great, because he will have shown great generosity in the service of God; great, because by his example, still more than by his words, he will have done much to secure the perseverance and spiritual progress of his neighbour, especially his brethren in religion.

APPLICATION. This thought is a most encouraging one, and we shall be always faithful to the smallest observances if we can but always keep them in mind.

Let us beg of God that it may be thus, and that the words of the author of the Imitation may be applicable to our community: Oh, how sweet and comfortable it is to see brethren fervent and devout, regular and welldisciplined!'

COLLOQUY with St. Joseph.

JULY 13.

ON FERVOUR IN SERVING GOD.

1st Prel. Imagine you hear St. Paul saying, ‘In spirit fervent, serving the Lord.'

2d Prel. Beg for grace to set a just value on fervour.

POINT I. Nature of Fervour.

CONSIDERATION. That exactitude in observing all the points of religious discipline which we have meditated on supposes fervour of spirit; for in reality fervour is nothing more than promptitude in devoting our whole self with all our heart to the service of God. If this be the habitual disposition of the soul, it is worthy to be called a virtue (for all virtue is habitual); though, strictly speaking, fervour is only a quality of the virtue of religion, according to St. Thomas, according to others, of the virtue of charity. Therefore it is plain that a fervent religious will be faithful to the smallest observances of his rule, in which he sees the expression of the will of God.

APPLICATION. Weigh well these words of the Imitation: Our fervour and progress ought to be every day greater; but now it is esteemed a great matter if a man can retain some part of his first fervour.' It is very humiliating to find an author so versed in the knowledge of men making such an assertion. At first we are tempted to dispute it; but do we not find it fulfilled in ourselves? Compare the first year of your religious profession with the last : in which of the two were you

most exact and fervent? What remains of your first burst of fervour? If it had been kept up, to what a high degree of virtue you would have already attained! AFFECTIONS and RESOLUTIONS.

POINT II. Happiness of a fervent Religious.

CONSIDERATION. There is nothing more true than that the fervent religious is happy. With fervour we have everything, and without it nothing. With fervour there is purity and peace of conscience, there is perfect happiness; labour is no longer a burden, and the yoke of religious life becomes light and sweet, the greatest sacrifices become delightful, and we heap up merits in a brief space of time. We become a consolation to our superiors and edification to our brethren; we draw down benedictions from heaven on our community, and on our good works and undertakings. Lastly, with fervour we make constant progress in virtue, obtain final perseverance, and a weight of glory in heaven.

APPLICATION. If you have not always been very fervent, you have at least been so at times; and did you not then understand the reality of all these blessings of fervour? Were you not happy then? Did you not feel the truth of the Psalmist's words, that it is sweet to serve the Lord? Rekindle, then, your fervour, if it has grown cold; see by what means you once obtained it, and be assured that you can preserve it by the same

means.

AFFECTIONS and RESOLUTIONS.

POINT III. Misery of the lukewarm Religious.

CONSIDERATION. If thou beginnest to grow lukewarm, thou wilt begin to be uneasy. A negligent and lukewarm religious man has trouble upon trouble, and on every side suffers anguish, because he has no comfort within, and is hindered from seeking any without.' Thus does the author of the Imitation describe a lukewarm religious. He is indeed miserable, for he is the

slave of his passions; he is daily staining his soul with sin; he seeks peace, and cannot find it; he carries the yoke of religion without its consolations; he labours hard, and reaps little for eternity. Finally, he runs the risk of losing his vocation, and with it the friendship of God and final perseverance.

APPLICATION. Let these thoughts inspire you with a great fear, or rather a lively horror of lukewarmness, and especially because our vicious nature leans towards it. If you have fallen into it, come out of it, with a holy indignation against yourself-even to-day, when God speaks to your heart-and vigorously begin again to practise the means of preserving fervour. Make some very definite resolutions for this end, and place them at the feet of Jesus, and beg of Him in your fer vent Colloquy that He will bless them and render them fruitful.

COLLOQUY.

JULY 14.

SERMON ON THE MOUNTAIN: PERSECUTIONS.

1st Prel. Imagine you hear Jesus saying these words: 'Love your enemies; do good to them that hate you; and pray for them that persecute you.'

2d Prel. Beg the grace of a generous conformity to the doctrine, the precepts, and the example of Jesus Christ in respect to persecutions.

POINT I. Doctrine of Jesus Christ on Persecutions.

CONSIDERATION. Both the doctrine and life of Jesus Christ were a condemnation of the sins and hypocrisy of the Pharisees. It was enough to draw down upon Him their hatred, calumnies, and deadly persecution. We have made an especial profession of being the disciples and apostles of Jesus; is it, then, any wonder that we are an object of hatred to the wicked? The Lord has foretold us what we have to expect from them. 'The servant is not greater than his master. If