lity, is certainly the spirit of our Divine Master and Model. Love one another, as I have loved you.' And again, 'Learn of Me; for I am meek and humble of heart.' Such is the spirit which should distinguish those who profess to follow closely in the footsteps of Jesus, and especially those who profess to follow Him in the path of zeal. He desires that our charity should be absolutely free from all rancour or revenge: 'Pray for them that persecute you; do good to them that hate you and calumniate you.' He desires that our meekness should be without disguise, like that of sheep and doves: 'I send you as sheep among wolves.' 'Be simple as doves.' By following these precepts of our Lord and His wonderful example, the Apostles and their successors converted the world and changed wolves into lambs. APPLICATION. By charity and gentleness we shall succeed in the efforts we make for the conversion and sanctification of souls. The ardour of our zeal must be tempered by charity, patience, and gentleness. Rudeness and harshness of speech exasperate people and close their hearts against us; charity and gentleness open their hearts and give us the mastery over them. Has not experience taught you this? AFFECTIONS and RESOLUTIONS. POINT III. Spirit of Piety and Prayer. CONSIDERATION. Without a tender and solid piety, without the habit and spirit of prayer, we shall never be religious, save in name; we shall be incapable of that virtue which both God and man demand from us. Still more shall we be incapable of producing fruit in souls. The success of our zeal must come from God: without grace our efforts will be useless. 'Neither he that planteth is anything, ner he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.' APPLICATION. You complain that your zealous efforts ɔnly meet with indifference and insensibility; but is VOL. II. G not the fault your own? Souls are gained, say the Saints, at the price of blood, because the blood of God has flowed for them-Sanguine emendæ sunt animæ. What extraordinary means do you use? How many mortifications and penances, how many prayers and novenas, do you offer for this intention? Perhaps you are contented with purely human means, and therefore what success can you expect? Be a man of God— homo Dei-a man of prayer and mortification, and all will yield to your zeal. COLLOQUY. AUGUST 12. FEAST OF ST. CLARE, FOUNDRESS OF THE ORDER 1st Prel. Behold the Saint in glory, surrounded by a vast number of children whom she has led to heaven. 2d Prel. Beg of her to obtain for you the spirit of your holy vocation. POINT I. St. Clare's Spirit of Generosity. CONSIDERATION. God called Clare to spread and perpetuate among women the spirit and austere rule of St. Francis, her fellow-citizen. Her parents, who were of the highest rank in Assisi, wished to keep her in the world; but the Saint, at the age of eighteen, fled from her father's house, had her long hair cut off, and was clothed in the habit of penance by St. Francis in the convent of Portiuncula. God rewarded this great generosity. He sent Clare a great number of companions, who formed the nucleus of the new order of which she was elected first Abbess (1212). After the example of their foundress, they all practised austerities till then unknown among women: they went barefoot, slept on boards, kept perpetual abstinence, fasted a great part of the year, abstaining then even from milk, eggs, and * Born 1193; died 1253; canonised 1255. fish; they wore a rough hair shirt, and rose in the night to chant the Divine Office together. The Saint found means of practising still greater severities.* APPLICATION. Of what is not generosity capable? It knows neither obstacles nor impossibilities. How mortified we should be, and what great progress we should make in virtue, if we were animated by it as St. Clare was! AFFECTIONS and RESOLUTIONS. POINT II. St. Clare's Spirit of Poverty. CONSIDERATION. St. Clare's esteem for poverty was astonishing. She chose for herself the worst and meanest things in the house; she laid down in her Constitutions that the life was to be a common one; that no sister—not even the Superioress-was to possess anything of her own; and that the community were to have no endowments, but always to subsist by their labour and the alms of the faithful. She firmly resisted the Popes Gregory IX. and Innocent IV., who wished her houses to have fixed revenues like those of other religious.t. When people said her poverty was exaggerated, she replied that Jesus Christ had understood and practised it in this manner, and that, if observed in this way, it would preserve her convents from relaxation, a worldly spirit, divisions, and views of personal interest. APPLICATION. Take into serious consideration the motives that the Saint gave for her great esteem of evangelical poverty, and you will esteem and love it as she did; and, far from finding its observances too severe, * It is an astonishing thing that after six centuries have gone by, we see the daughters of St. Clare living in a number of towns and persevering even in our days in all these austerities in spite of the weak health and the prejudices that now exist. Later on, some of these houses accepted endowments with the permission of Pope Urban IV. They were henceforth called Urbanists, or rich Clares. They have never prospered as the poor Clares have done. you will continue to preserve it by your example, and to transmit it intact to those who come after you. How far have you contributed to this up to the present time? AFFECTIONS and RESOLUTIONS. POINT III. St. Clare's Spirit of Piety. CONSIDERATION. St. Clare found consolation and strength in religious duties, in frequent communion, and in mental and vocal prayer, to which she gave a great part of the night. By her prayers she miraculously preserved her convent from the invasion of the Saracens and the town of Assisi from great misery. She was so humble and grateful, that she looked on herself as a debtor to her fellow-citizens, from whom she and her community received their daily subsistence. She made it a rule to pray much for them. APPLICATION. We should also pray much for our benefactors, and try to make people of the world understand how much they owe to those holy beings who, hidden in their cloisters, raise their suppliant hands to heaven for them, and turn aside the punishments they have deserved by their sins. COLLOQUY. AUGUST 13. MIRACLE OF THE MULTIPLICATION OF THE LOAVES. 1st Prel. Behold the Apostles distributing the miraculous bread to the multitude. 2d Prel. Beg for redoubled love and devotion to Jesus Christ. POINT I. Occasion of the Miracle. CONSIDERATION. The desert place where Jesus had led His Apostles on their return from their mission was soon besieged by an immense crowd of people. 'Jesus had compassion on them, and from a rising ground, where He stood with the twelve, He spoke of the king dom of God. The time went on, the day declined, and still the crowd remained motionless, hanging on the words of Jesus. The Apostles said to Him, This is a desert place, and the hour is now past, send away the multitudes, that going into the towns they may buy themselves victuals. But Jesus said to them, They have no need to go; give you them to eat.' It was evident that, in spite of their want of faith, He was about to work a miracle. APPLICATION. After the example of these good Israelites, let us seek, according to our Lord's precept, 'the kingdom of heaven and His justice' before all other things. Have we not to reproach ourselves with being more occupied with our bodily wants, our health and our comforts, than with the means of glorifying God, and of increasing in virtue and sanctity? Alas, many religious have to reproach themselves with it; and the knowledge of it causes their want of confidence in God when human means fail them. Have you not experienced this? AFFECTIONS and RESOLUTIONS. POINT II. Greatness of the Miracle. CONSIDERATION. 'Jesus saith to Philip, to try him, Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat? Philip answered Him, Two hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one may take a little. Now there were about five thousand men, besides women and children. Andrew, brother of Simon Peter, saith to Him, there is a boy here that hath five barley-loaves and two fishes; but what are these among so many? And He said to His disciples, Make them sit down by fifties in a company. And taking the five loaves and two fishes He looked up to heaven and blessed them, and He broke and distributed to His disciples to set before the multitude. And they did all eat and were filled. And there were taken up of the fragments that remained twelve baskets.' |