there they eat the wheat of the elect; piety reigns in such parishes. These happy results, however, are due, after God, to the good priest who has taught his people to know the meaning of the tabernacle, of the altar and communion-table of our churches.

Résumé of the Meditation.

First Point.-Love of Jesus Christ toward the priest in the Holy Eucharist. I. He dwells in the tabernacle. To all, and at all times, He offers the consolation of His presence, the assistance of His power. The priests are the guardians of this magnificent treasure. They dispense it to the world. If there were no priests, there should be no Holy Eucharist. II. He immolates Himself on the altar. Consider the motive, the value of this immolation. Who is the minister of this sacrifice? III. He gives Himself at the holy table. "Take and eat, this is my body." You have My soul, My divinity. O stupor indicibilis charitatis! How easy to despise all the delights of earth after feasting at this banquet.

Second Point.-What Jesus expects of His ministers in the Holy Eucharist. Fidelity to practise, zeal to propagate this devotion. I. Practical devotion toward the Holy Eucharist requires three things: To visit Jesus Christ in His tabernacle regularly; to offer Him piously on His altar; to receive Him fervently at the holy table. 'Wheresoever the body shall be, there shall the eagles also be gathered together." Go often, offer your homage and that of your people to Him who dwelleth in our sanctuaries. Let the celebration of the holy mysteries be ever the first object of your thoughts; let your fervor increase with the number of your communions; each communion you receive should intensify your gratitude to God. II. In order to propagate this devotion, you must often speak of it in the pulpit and in the confessional.

MEDITATION XCVIII.

REASONS OF CHRISTIAN AND PRIESTLY CONFIDENCE.

Whatever may be our situation, how great soever may be our dangers and sorrows, we always have two infallible motives for reliance on God-the promises of God, and our confidence in God. We are fearful only because we are weak in faith, as Our Saviour declared. "Why are you fearful, O ye men of little faith?"

1.-God has Pledged Himself to Refuse Nothing to Those Who have Confidence in Him.

2.-Apart from God's Promise, our Confidence Alone would Obtain Everything of Him.

First Point.-God has pledged Himself to refuse nothing to confidence. However rare good faith be among men, we nevertheless consider that a promise is positive of fulfilment when it is made by an upright man, put in writing, and especially when his word and writing are confirmed by oath and by forfeitures. Who would believe that the Lord wished to bind Himself to us by so many obligations?

He promises: "Ask and you shall receive; knock and it shall be opened unto you." Whatever you will ask, if your faith be strong, you shall obtain it. "Everything is possible to him that believes." In the Holy Scripture to believe and to hope are often the same thing. Faith and hope are always the virtues to which the Saviour pays favorable attention, and He is careful to tell us this. He declares that before we pray to Him He considers our wants, provides for their relief with the affection of a father, and without His permission "not a hair shall fall from our head."

There is no doubt regarding the meaning of these declarations; do we believe in them? One would say that they were uttered by another than He who revealed to us the many incomprehensible mysteries, against which we would not dare entertain the slightest doubt. Abraham believes the word of God, and for this reason he hopes against all hope. How could Isaac, after being immolated, become the father of a numerous posterity, as God had promised? This is true indeed; but, on the other hand, can God be untrue to His promise? If Isaac were killed, a dead man would have

to be raised to life.

What if a thousand dead had to be raised, if this world had to be destroyed, another to be created? One miracle alone is impossible to God, and that is, if He were to fail in His promise.

His promise, moreover, is written. We read it in the sacred books on which we shall be judged. Could the sacred Gospel be brought out in judgment against us before the dread tribunal, if, while testifying to our disobedience, it declared the Lord's infidelities to His promises? Those promises must, O my God, grant me all that I ask with confidence, nay all that Thou hast given me a right to expect from Thy bounty, even before asking it; for otherwise Thou wouldst not be found just and true. I possess a hand note of Thine, which secures to me all that Thou hast promised. I then have nothing to fear. And yet the Saviour gives stronger security.

We have His words confirmed by an oath: "Amen, amen I say to you, whatever you will ask the Father in My name He will grant it to you. Hitherto you have asked nothing in My name;" that is, with firmness of hope which My promise and My mediation should inspire in you. I swear by Myself, who am eternal Truth, by Myself who hate lies and punish perjury, if you cast all your solicitude on Me I will take care of you. O nos beatos, quorum causa Deus jurat. O miserrimos, si nec Dev juranti credimus.

There are men, indeed, who break their word, disown their writing, violate their oath, yet we have nothing to fear from the inconstancy or perfidy of such men, if they have given securities, or have given themselves as security for their promise. And Thou hast given us Thyself, O Lord! this also Thou hast condescended to do in order to obtain our confidence.

The Lord's benefits, says St. Augustine, have this double character: They are in themselves a blessing and also a pledge of new favors. He will give me favors because He has already given some to me. He threatened to destroy the murmuring Israelites, and, in order to appease Him, Moses reminds Him of the wonders He had performed in their behalf. This was enough to remind Him of the crimes of an ungrateful people, and to justify instead of appease Him; yet God's anger was appeased, God granted pardon. It is a sacrifice for the heart of a good Father to lose the sweet fruit of all that He did for the happiness of His children. I am chiefly anxious when I remember the many graces which I have received; this, on the contrary, ought to comfort me. The more Jesus Christ shed tears and blood for my sanctification, the more ardently does He desire the salvation of my soul.

Finally, I find a pledge of future favors not merely in the admirable graces that He lavished upon me in the past; this pledge of future favors is none else but Himself; for He is mine, His Father gave Him to me; He has given and continues to give Himself to me as often as I wish. When I offer Him to His Father, I present my claims to the possession of His kingdom. I can exclaim with the Psalmist, "The Lord is my refuge, and my God, the help of my hope." (Ps. xciii. 22.) Have I any cause to fear when my confidence is grounded upon His divine promise? This, however, is not all.

Second Point. --Our_confidence alone, apart from God's promises, would oblige Him to help and to save us, because this confidence honors Him, and because He must respond to it.

Our confidence in God honors Him and procures for Him a glory which is dear to Him, a glory which He desires, and which He asks us to give Him. "Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify Me." (Ps. xlix. 15.) This is the greatest honor that He can receive from us, for our confidence adds to His glory; it glorifies the truth of His word, the fidelity of His promises, His wisdom, which knows our wants and the way to assist us, His power, which triumphs over all difficulties. But it particularly honors His mercy, His inexhaustible tenderness, through our conviction that He continues to love us, although we have deserved His hatred. Confidence is, properly speaking, the homage of the heart; of all homages the one most worthy of God. We see the desire in all men to obtain the confidence of their fellow-beings.

Finally, God would dishonor Himself were He to permit our confidence to be deceived, for in this case it would be true to say that the goodness of God is below and not above the thoughts of men. Starting from this point, the holy Doctors teach that our hope is the measure of the graces which we receive. St. Thomas says that it is within us the principle of impetration, just as charity is the principle of merit; as we acquire merit in proportion to our love, so we obtain grace in proportion to our hope.

Let us judge of the heart of God by our own. The person who would refuse to assist a friend who applies to him with confidence, when he could help him and when the service desired is important, would be considered unworthy to bear the name of friend; and how could God, who is goodness itself, reject His child who casts himself into His arms, when there is question of preserving him from the most dreadful of misfortunes, and when His mere will suffices to save him? Ah, quite different is the idea He gives us

of His goodness when He says: "Because he has hoped in Me, I shall deliver him; because he has known My name, I shall save him.”

O Jesus! how little does he know Thy name who dares not hope for everything from Thee. When assailed by despondency, turn your eyes toward Jesus Christ. Withdraw yourself into His wounded heart, and imagine that He thus addresses His Mother, who prays for you: "I have, O my Mother, many reasons to assist this afflicted good priest: thou prayest to Me for him; he has left all things to follow Me; his soul cost Me all My blood, but he has hoped in Me, and this suffices. My honor demands that I should justify his confidence. I shall deliver him from his enemies, and shall make him happy in heaven." "Because he has hoped in Me, I shall deliver him." Let others take confidence in the remembrance of a life of innocence, a life filled with good works; as for me, O my God, all my strength is in Thee, and my confidence is in Thy mercy. "In peace in the self-same I will sleep, and I will rest, for Thou, O Lord, singularly hast settled me in hope." (Ps. iv., 9, 10.)

Résumé of the Meditation.

First Point. God has formally pledged Himself to refuse nothing to confidence. I. We have His word. It is the word of the Son of God. "Ask and you shall receive." He even declares that before we pray to Him, He watches over our wants in order to provide for them with the affection of a father. There is nothing obscure in those declarations. Do we believe in them? II. We have His written word. Could the sacred Gospel be brought out against me at the dread tribunal, if while testifying to my transgressions, it at the same time made known God's infidelities to His promises? III. This written promise is confirmed by an oath. The oath of a God! How sad our state if we do not believe even in this oath! IV. As additional sureties we have most precious pledges. These are the benefits already received of God; next we have God Himself; Jesus Christ, Son of God, who has given Himself to us as a pledge of the sovereign happiness which He has prepared for us.

Second Point. Our confidence alone, apart from God's promises, would oblige Him to help and to save us. I. When we hope for everything from God, we give Him a glory which is dear to Him, and which He also demands of us. "Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver thee and thou shalt glorify Me." Confidence is, of all homage, that most appreciated; it is the homage of the heart. II. God would dishonor Himself were He to permit us to be deceived in our confidence. Let us judge of His heart