Aspiration.-"Water quencheth a flaming fire, and alms resisteth sins." (Ecclesiasticus iii. 33.)

EXAMPLE.

AN ACT OF NEGLIGENCE.

The Abbé Trithème, a celebrated writer of the Order of St. Benedict, relates that Raban Maur, first Abbot of Fulda, in the ninth century, afterwards Archbishop of Mayence, had given an order to Edelard, procurator of the abbey, to bestow abundant alms at all times, and when a religious died, to give to the poor during thirty days the food which was destined for him. Edelard, swayed by the passion of avarice, did not fulfil the Abbot's order; but one night, crossing the choir, he saw there all the religious who had died during his office of procurator. They came to reproach him for his negligence and avarice which detained them in Purgatory for want of the alms, of which divine justice required the merit. Then they told him that in three days he would undergo the chastisements which he deserved.

Edelard, filled with remorse and fear, fell senseless to the ground, and was carried to his cell, where, refusing all human aid, he begged the Abbot to confess him before his death. The priest, after speaking to him of God's mercy, gave him the last sacraments, and saw him breathe his last; and a short time after the soul

of Brother Edelard appeared to him and said, "I thank you, my father, for the alms which you have poured into the lap of the poor, for my intention, but in accordance with Divine justice, the merit has been applied to those who, on my account, were detained in Purgatory, in default of the expiation of which my avarice deprived them. O my father, hasten then to appease the just Judge, for I must remain in the expiatory prison until all my brethren are delivered."

NOVEMBER 27TH.

Meditation for the Twenty-seventh Day of the Month of the Souls in Purgatory.

INDULGENCES.

Prelude. Let us represent to ourselves Purgatory opened by means of a gold key, which the mercy of Jesus Christ and the compassionate tenderness of the Church have placed in our hands.

Meditation. One of the most efficacious ways of relieving and delivering the souls in Purgatory is the good use of the indulgences granted to the living, with the power of applying them to the dead. A pious writer, considering the little esteem most Christians have for indulgences, exclaims, "To realise the esteem which

indulgences merit, it is sufficient to know, O my sweet Jesus, that they are the fruits of Thy precious Blood. One drop of this adorable Blood would have sufficed to open heaven and close hell, because the least of Thy sufferings is of infinite value. Nevertheless, Thou didst wish to pass thirty-three years in labour, sufferings, humiliations, and at last Thou didst die on the Cross in the midst of cruel torments. Such is the source from which indulgences spring, and it is because Thou hast endured for us a superabundance of suffering that Thou dost wish to grant us a superabundance of graces. Thou hast put into the hands of Thy Church the infinite merits of Thy sufferings, and even the merits which Mary, and all the saints who are united to Thee, have acquired. It is from this treasure that she draws, to acquit our debts, when she grants by indulgences the remission of the temporal pains due to us.

Resolution.-Renew our devotion for indul

gences.

Aspiration.-"And I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven." (Gospel according to St. Matthew xvi. 19.)

EXAMPLE.

THE VALUE OF INDULGENCES.

Blessed Berthold, of the Order of St. Francis, after a sermon which he had preached on the

value and merit of almsgiving, had granted ten days' indulgence to all present, according to the power he had received from the Sovereign Pontiff. A Christian lady, who was reduced to extreme poverty, came to tell him of her misery, and the good Father, who possessed nothing of his own, could only renew the gift which he had made her of ten days' indulgence. Then he told her to go to a banker whom he pointed out, and who up to the present time had no anxiety for his spiritual welfare.

"Offer," said Berthold to her, "to give up to him the merit of your ten days' indulgence in return for the alms which he will give you." The poor woman went in all confidence and simplicity, and the banker received her kindly enough, and asked her how much she hoped to obtain in exchange for her ten days? "As much," she replied, "as they will weigh in the balance." In saying this she felt herself animated by, interior strength, which gave her confidence. "Well, then," answered the banker, write them on a piece of paper, and place it on one side of the scales: I will put a real* on the other." But, wonderful to relate, the first side does not move; the banker, astonished, places another real, then five, ten, twenty, as much in fact as the poor woman required to withdraw her from her precarious position. The banker understood then the value of heavenly

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* Small Spanish coin worth twenty-four centimes.

interests, and this miracle was for him a precious lesson.

But the poor souls in Purgatory especially understand the value of indulgences. If we knew what their gratitude to us is, if we apply to them the merit of some acts of virtue, though simple, short, and ordinary—a rosary, a prayer, an alms, a consoling word said for their intention, above all, a communion. And, nevertheless, we neglect these easy means. We cannot bear the sight of suffering because it affects us, and yet we feel nothing at the thought of the torments of Purgatory.

NOVEMBER 28TH.

Meditation for the Twenty-eighth Day of the Month of the Souls in Purgatory.

WE MUST ASSIST THE HOLY SOULS.

Prelude.--Let us contemplate the multitude of souls who suffer in Purgatory.

Meditation.-There is no soul in Purgatory who has not special claims to be assisted by us. In fact, I., the natural law wills that "all things therefore whatsoever you would that men should do to you, do you also to them" (St. Matthew vii. 12). And who, if he were burning in Purgatory, would not wish to be