night, for so many years, to the rays of the Sun of Justice, and to that mystical moon which derives all her splendour from him."

PRACTICAL RESOLUTION.

"Blessed are the clean of heart, for they shall see God."

To be near Jesus, and to be dear to Jesus, like Mary and Joseph, we must be pure and chaste. Heaven the soul of man shall never possess until she be purer than a sunbeam and whiter than the virgin snow. Chastity is a special gift of God. The inspired writer says: "I knew that I could not otherwise be continent except God gave

I went to the Lord and besought him" (Wisd. viii. 21). Prayer, therefore, is the first means to preserve chastity. The second means is to avoid every dangerous occasion of sin. And the third is to subdue our sinful flesh by acts of mortification, and our proud spirit by acts of humility and self-denial.

I resolve, therefore, by God's grace, to shun, all the days of my life, every occasion which I know from experience to be dangerous to holy purity; and, secondly, every day to practise some little acts of humility and self-denial known to God alone. O Jesus, grant me the grace to keep my resolutions.

PRAYER.

O loving Jesus! make me pure. O sweet Jesus! make me chaste. To preserve purity, dearer to me than my life, O Jesus, grant me the spirit of prayer. O merciful Jesus! may I call upon Thee in the dark hour of temptation. Jesus, save me from the foul evil of impurity. Help me, O blessed Saviour, when I am tempted. May I die, O Jesus, take me out of life, O Lord, but never permit me to fall into mortal sin. O merciful Saviour, give me a living fear of sin, and the dangerous occasions of sin. "Pierce thou my flesh with Thy fear." O Blessed Lord, grant me a horror of pride, and love for humility. O Saviour, grant me the grace to shun sensuality of all sorts, and to love and practise mortification and self-denial. St. Joseph, obtain for me from Jesus purity of body and soul.

"Guardian of Virgins, and holy father Joseph, to whose faithful custody Jesus Christ, Innocence itself, and Mary, Virgin of Virgins, were committed, I pray and beseech thee by these dear pledges, Jesus and Mary, that, being preserved from all uncleanness, I may, with spotless mind, pure heart, and chaste body, ever serve Jesus and Mary all the days of my life."

Virgin most pure, Virgin most chaste, Virgin immaculate, pray for me, and obtain for me purity of soul and body.

PRACTICE.

To-day practise four acts of self-denial: of the eyes, the tongue, the taste or appetite, and the will.

ASPIRATION.

O Jesus! make my heart and soul, my mind and body, as pure and chaste as the angels of God in Paradise.

MARCH 13TH.

THIRTEENTH MEDITATION.

St. Joseph, a Man of Prayer. The necessity of Prayer.

Invocation of the Holy Ghost, as at page 278, "Come, O Holy Ghost," &c.

"Without me you can do nothing" (John, xv. 5). "Not that we are sufficient to think anything of ourselves, as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God" (2 Cor. iii. 5).

"For it is God who worketh in you

both to will and to accomplish to his good will" (Phil. ii. 13).

Reflect that by prayer we lift our hearts to God and pay Him supreme homage. By prayer we acknowledge God to be the Creator, the supreme Lord and Master of the entire universe, of heaven and earth, and of everything that therein exists. By prayer we thank God for all that we are and all that we have, for all the gifts and graces of soul and body. All are from the hands of God. By prayer we beg pardon of God for our daily sins, and beg of God grace and help to sin no more. Prayer is the communing of the soul with its Maker and Redeemer.

For an adult, prayer is absolutely necessary for salvation. Without grace we cannot be saved, and grace is obtained by prayer. It is of faith that without the grace of God we cannot elicit one supernatural act, or advance one step on the road to salvation. "If any one saith," defines the Council of Trent, "that without the prevenient inspiration of the Holy Ghost, and without his help, man can believe, hope, love, or be penitent, as he ought. let him be anathema" (Sess. vi. Can. iii). "Without me," says our Blessed Saviour, "you can do nothing."

And St. Paul says: "Not that we are sufficient to think anything of ourselves, as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God" (2 Cor. iii. 5). And again the Apostle says: "For it is God who worketh in you both to will and to accomplish according to His good will" (Phil. ii. 13).

Prayer is necessary for salvation, because God has so commanded. The Word of God says "We ought always to pray" (Luke, xviii. 1). "Pray lest ye enter into temptation" (Luke, xxii. 40). "Ask and you shall receive" (John xvi. 24). "Pray without ceasing (1st Thess. v. 17).

Prayer alone can meet and conquer the three mortal enemies of our salvation, viz., the world with its seductions, the flesh with its concupiscences, and "the devil as a roaring lion goeth about seeking whom he may devour" (1 Peter, v. 8). Without prayer we cannot overcome "the concupiscence of the flesh, the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life" (1 John, ii. 16). Without salt meat soon corrupts. Without the dew of heaven the tender plant fades and dies; so without prayer the soul is soon tainted by sin, and dies a spiritual death by losing the grace of God.

St. Joseph, enlightened by the Spirit of