POINT II. St. Ignatius's wonderful Correspondence CONSIDERATION. As soon as the light of grace penetrated into the soul of Ignatius, he set himself to repair the past, and to attain what his vocation required from him. He secretly left the castle of Loyola, hung up his sword before the altar of our Lady in the sanctuary of Montserrat, clothed himself as a poor man, and begged his bread with them; he made a general confession with tears and sobs, and retired to Manreza, where he inflicted sufferings on his body the very history of which makes us shudder. Having thus become a new man in Jesus Christ, and being consumed with divine love, he gave himself up to zeal for souls; but that he might attain more success with others, he pursued the study of letters at Alcala, and afterwards at Paris applied himself to the higher sciences. With invincible perseverance he overcame the difficulties which he had to encounter in this long course of study, and especially in the formation and establishment of the new order, the plan of which he had learnt by grace. While he composed the Constitutions, he withdrew himself from others, was almost always on his knees, fasting or praying, that all of them might be in accordance with the will of God, and of a nature to bring about the greater glory of God. We should remark that these last words, which became the motto of the Saint, were repeated in the Constitutions more than three hundred and sixty times. For Ignatius, absolutely dead to self-love and worldly glory, lived for God only. It was the fruit of his unwavering fidelity to Grace. APPLICATION. After the example of St. Ignatius, let us coöperate generously and perseveringly with grace. It will be our counsel in doubts, our consolation in troubles, our support in the spiritual combat. It will bring us that crown of glory promised to those who, taking it for their guide, seek in everything the greater glory of God. COLLOQUY. AUGUST 1. PARABLE OF THE SOWER. 1st Prel. Behold Jesus sitting in a boat and speaking to the multitude assembled on the shore of the lake. 2d Prel. Beg the grace of attaining the end that our Lord proposes to us in this parable. POINT I. Seed falling by the Wayside. CONSIDERATION. We have now come to that time in our Lord's ministry (towards the middle of the second year) when it pleased Him to present great truths to the people under the familiar but attractive form of parables. One of the most remarkable was the sower. The sower,' said He, 'went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell by the wayside; and it was trodden down, and the fowls of the air devoured it. And other some fell upon a rock, and as soon as it had sprung up, it withered away, because it had no moisture. APPLICATION. Let us tarry here, that we may study the practical lessons of the first part of the parable. Our Lord Himself explains them to us. The seed is the word of God, and they by the wayside are they that hear; then the devil cometh and taketh the word out of their heart, lest believing they should be saved. Two things are here pointed out to us as preventing us from deriving the fruit which our Meditation on the Word of God ought to produce; the first is dissipation of mind, which the devil makes use of to banish good thoughts from our hearts; the second, hardness of heart, which prevents them from penetrating into our souls, and taking root there. A careful examination will convince you of this. AFFECTIONS and RESOLUTIONS. POINT II. Seed sown among Thorns. CONSIDERATION. 'And other some,' continues our Lord, fell among thorns, and the thorns growing up with it choked it.' At the request of the Apostles, the Divine Master deigned to explain this second part of the parable also. And that which fell among thorns are they who have heard, and going their way, are choked with the cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and yield no fruit.' APPLICATION. Let us pity the lot of those Christians who are obliged, by their position, to live and work out their salvation in the midst of the troubles of the world. What perpetual difficulties they meet with in trying to listen to the Word of God, and to rule their conduct by it! And faith also is, as it were, stifled and dead in the greater number of men. We should, then, be fools and our own enemies, if, after having with great pain torn ourselves away from the anxieties and dissipation of the world, we let ourselves be drawn into them again, either by too frequent intercourse with people of the world and by useless visits, or by giving too much time and attention to reading the newspapers, or listening to the conversation of the day, or by letting ourselves be surrounded by our relations, who try to interest us in their temporal affairs, their enterprises, their plans for success and fortune, their sorrows and domestic disputes. It is evident that if we yield to the snare of the devil, our fate will be the same as that of seculars-that the germ of progress, even the germ of religious life, will be stifled in us. We ought, then, to be on our guard. Have you always done this? AFFECTIONS and RESOLUTIONS. POINT. III. Seed falling on good Ground. CONSIDERATION. 'And other seed fell on good ground, and being sprung up, yielded fruit a hundred fold,'meaning, according to the explanation of Jesus Christ, 'That on the good ground are they who, in a good and very good heart, hearing the word keep it, and bring forth fruit in patience: the one thirty, the other sixty, and another a hundred.' APPLICATION. We desire to be in this last number. What means should we take to attain it? Our Lord has told us to hear and meditate on the Divine word with a heart free from disorderly affections, and above all things desirous of knowing the truth, and decided to embrace it. Is this our habitual state? Let us see in what we can and ought to improve. COLLOQUY with our Divine Master. AUGUST 2. FEAST OF ST. ALPHONSUS LIGUORI, FOUNDER OF THE * 1st Prel. Imagine you see the Saint in ecstasy before our Lady's image. 2d Prel. Beg the grace of walking courageously in the Saint's footsteps. POINT I. St. Alphonsus incites us to labour. CONSIDERATION. We ought to seek in the lives of the Saints not only lessons, but encouragement. We shall find many of these in the life of St. Alphonsus. First of all, we find a powerful encouragement to labour, which, in the hard kind of life we have embraced, is often very necessary for us. From his ordination until his extreme old age, the Saint never ceased to preach, to hear confessions, to give retreats and missions. To these labours he added, for thirty years, the government of a diocese, and that of his numerous congregation for forty-two years more. Here was enough, indeed, to fill up the life of any man ; but Alphonsus had made a vow never to lose time, and, incredible though it seems, he also found time to compose (besides a great number of small treatises) more than fifty-two books, * Born at Naples 1696; made priest 1726; first Superior of his congregation 1732; bishop 1762; resigned his see 1775; died August 1st, 1787; beatified 1816; canonised 1839. some of which, such as his Moral Theology and the Glories of Mary, are so filled with quotations, that it is evident he had read the works of all who had written before him about morals and our Lady. And labouring thus, the Saint, though feeble in health, lived ninety years. APPLICATION. Take care not to imitate those religious who are so occupied about their health that they withdraw from work, never dare to undertake anything great or laborious, and finally become a burden to the community and to themselves. Rather imitate those. who, though feeble in health, seek a remedy for their habitual infirmities in labour. Regular work prolongs life, and St. Alphonsus is a proof of it. AFFECTIONS and RESOLUTIONS. POINT II. St. Alphonsus incites us to zeal. CONSIDERATION. The long life of the Saint was an uninterrupted exercise of zeal. He exercised it in almost every town and village in the kingdom of Naples, and his zeal was always rewarded by extraordinary conversions, often by striking miracles. More than a hundred of these are cited in the process of his canonisation : sometimes he was seen to be raised from the ground while he celebrated or preached; at times, interrupting the sermon, he asked prayers for some great person who was dying in a distant spot; sometimes he pointed out to those who consulted him what they had hidden in the depths of their hearts; often, with the sign of the cross, he cured those dangerously ill; and sometimes, even, he was present at the same time in two places— thus, without leaving Naples, he was present at the death of Pope Clement IX. (22d Sept. 1774). APPLICATION. If we wish to obtain great favours from God, we should be zealous. This we can all be in different ways. But after the example of the Saint, we should exercise our zeal with a pure intention, hav |