solations, which perhaps one office affords us more opportunities of than another.

AFFECTIONS. Let us offer ourselves to God for any life, however disturbed, that is consistent with our vocation.

RESOLUTIONS.- I will strive ever more and more to die to all that is not God, His will, and His love.

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POINT II

BAPTISM OF JESUS

CONSIDERATION.- Jesus desired to commence His public life by an act of great humility, by receiving the Baptism of penance at the hands of His precursor. Then," says St. Matthew, "cometh Jesus from Galilee to the Jordan, unto John, to be baptized by him. But John stayed Him, saying, I ought to be baptized by Thee, and comest Thou to me? And Jesus, answering, said to him, Suffer it to be so now; for so it becometh us to fulfill all justice." (St. Matt. 3:13-15.) That is to say, We shall give God the glory which is justly due to Him-I by an act of profound humiliation, you by one of blind obedience; and we shall thus repair the injustice done to God by the pride and rebellion of man.

APPLICATION. Our Blessed Lord taught us two great lessons by this act: 1st, that as Baptism is the first and most necessary of all the Sacraments, so humility is the first and most necessary of all virtues; 2d, that it is by humility, and the obedience which springs from it, that we can best please God, and draw down His blessings on our labors. If these have hitherto been unfruitful, it is perhaps because we have not acted on these principles.

AFFECTIONS.-Thank the Lord Jesus Christ, who by His abasement has purchased our exaltation; who,

by Holy Baptism, has united us with the Church militant, and has even opened for us a way to the Church triumphant which it only depends on us to follow.

RESOLUTIONS. To maintain in our hearts a spirit of profound humility combined with firm confidence in God.

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POINT III

GLORIFICATION OF JESUS

CONSIDERATION." He that shall humble himself shall be exalted." (St. Matt. 23: 12.) This was accomplished at the baptism of Jesus; for we read, Jesus being baptized, forthwith came out of the water, and lo! the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove, and coming upon Him. And behold a voice from heaven, saying, This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." (St. Matt. 3: 16, 17.)

APPLICATION.- The same favor which Jesus Christ, as man, merited by the deep humility of His baptism, - in which He mixed with penitents as one of themselves—has been granted gratuitously to us in our baptism. As soon as the holy-water was poured upon our head, the heavens, which before had been closed to us by original sin, were opened, and the Holy Ghost descended upon us, and a voice from heaven said, This is now My beloved child..

COLLOQUY with our Divine Lord. Thank Him for the high privileges conferred on you at Baptism. Renew your resolution of remaining always faithful to the sacred engagements contracted at that time.

MEDITATION III

JESUS IS LED BY THE HOLY GHOST

INTO THE DESERT

1st Prel. Imagine Jesus alone in a frightful desert. 2d Prel. Ask for a ready obedience to the impulses of grace.

POINT I

JESUS, OBEDIENT TO THE IMPULSE OF THE HOLY GHOST, GOES INTO THE DESERT

CONSIDERATION.-"Jesus, being full of the Holy Ghost, returned from the Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the desert, for the space of forty days." (St. Luke 4: 12.) Though Jesus Christ possessed, as man, the fullness of wisdom and grace, and was perfectly secure against all error, surprise, or illusion, He would not act except according to the leading of the Holy Ghost, to which He submitted with the utmost docility, as is clear from the sacred text.

APPLICATION. It is the same Spirit who, by the victorious impulse of grace, has led and drawn us from the midst of a deceitful world into the happy desert of religion; who keeps us there by the attractions of His grace, and who never ceases to guide and urge us onward in the way of perfection. What progress should we not have made if we had always been faithful and docile to His inspirations! But what we have not done in the past, let us do now with constancy and generosity; and since the voice of God is not heard in the midst of noise and tumult, let us diligently keep ourselves in a state of recollection and interior peace. Let us fly from the world, and love solitude; for it is written, "I will allure her, and will lead her into

the wilderness, and I will speak to her heart." (Osee 2: 14.)

AFFECTIONS.- Gratitude, regret for past faults. Pray for a docile and generous heart.

RESOLUTIONS.- Reflect often on these words addressed by the Apostle to the Romans: “Quicumque Spiritu Dei aguntur, ii sunt filii Dei." "Whosoever are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God." (Romans 8: 14.)

POINT II

JESUS PRAYS AND FASTS IN THE DESERT

CONSIDERATION. The obedience of Jesus to the Holy Spirit was generous and heroic. It led Him to separate Himself from the world, and retire into a frightful desert, there to remain during forty days, with no companionship but that of wild beasts: Eratque cum bestiis." "He was with beasts."

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Mark 1:13.)

(St.

He had no roof to shelter Him from the inclemency of the weather, and He fasted rigorously during the whole time, taking no food whatever. "Nihil manducavit in diebus illis.' "He ate nothing in those days." (St. Luke 4:2.) He also spent the whole time in contemplation, interrupted only by the tears He shed over our miseries, and the prayers He addressed to His Heavenly Father on our behalf. Thus from the baptism of penance He passed on to works of penance, and thus prepared Himself for His public life and ministry.

APPLICATION.- Let us learn these two lessons from our Divine Master: 1st, that holy baptism, which to the early Christians was a call to martyrdom, is to every one a call to penance, and obliges us to live in the constant exercise of penance. "Christiana vita perpetua pœnitentia esse debet." "The life of a

Christian ought to be a perpetual penance," (Council of Trent;) 2d, that we ought to prepare ourselves for active work by retreat, prayer, and mortification, if we wish our labors to be crowned with success. Let us examine how far we have thus acted.

AFFECTIONS. Pray for the light and strength requisite to discern and follow, in all things, the inspiration of the Holy Ghost.

RESOLUTIONS.- To love solitude. To avoid useless walks and conversations. To attend only as far as you are obliged to external things.

POINT III

JESUS IS TEMPTED IN THE DESERT

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CONSIDERATION.- Jesus ductus est in desertum a Spiritu, ut tentaretur a diabolo." Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert, to be tempted by the devil." (St. Matt. 4: 1.) In Himself He had no inclination to evil and therefore He permitted the devil to tempt Him. But why should He suffer this terrible and humiliating trial? For our instruction and encourageHe desired to teach us that temptations are not sins, but that, on the contrary, they serve to keep us humble, watchful, fervent, and thereby more pleasing to God; that they are independent of our will; that neither holiness nor solitude exempts us from them; and that therefore they ought never to trouble or discourage us.

ment.

APPLICATION. Let us then take courage, and lay to heart the words of the Apostle, "God is faithful: who will not suffer you to be tempted above that which you are able; but will make also with temptation issue, that you may be able to bear it." (1. Cor. 10: 13.)

COLLOQUY with the Holy Angels, who witnessed the penance of our Lord in the Desert.