and you shall find rest to your souls." This holy lesson of humility St. Joseph learned and practised for many long years, under the Divine eyes of the meek and humble Jesus; and hence our great Saint is a model of humility.

PRACTICAL RESOLUTION.

O my Jesus! the spirit of pride pursues me day and night. O my Jesus! how far I am removed from the humility of Thy Saints! The abuse of grace, and the consciousness of my countless sins, ought to humble me to the dust. How often has the infinite mercy of God saved me from hell, and saved me from mortal sin; and yet I am proud. The Word of God and my reason convince me that all that I have and am, belongs to the Giver of all good gifts; and yet I feel my heart swell with pride.

To try to gain some little part of this favourite virtue of my Blessed Lord, I resolve, by the grace of God, to practise daily some little hidden acts of humility in honour of Jesus, "meek and humble of heart."

PRAYER.

"Jesus, meek and humble of heart, make my heart like unto Thy Heart."

O meek and humble Jesus! kill within me the spirit of pride. I wish to hate pride, and to love humility. O Jesus! grant me the grace to know Thee and to know myself. May my "ins, O Jesus, keep me humble. All the days of my life, I will ever thank the Patience of God that spared me in my sins; the Mercy of God that pardoned, I humbly hope, my sins; and the Providence of God, that so often saved me from the occasions of sin. O Jesus! grant me the grace never to boast of my good acts; grant me the grace to hide ny good acts. Jesus! grant me the grace never to despise my neighbour, and to seek the lowest place. "Handmaid of the Lord," and humble St. Joseph, obtain for me from Jesus the holy virtue of humility.

PRACTICE.

To-day, frequently perform some little acts of humility, known to God alone.

ASPIRATION.

"Jesus, meek and humble of heart, make my heart like unto Thy Heart."

MARCH 25TH.

TWENTY-FIFTH MEDITATION.

St. Joseph, a Model of Self-denial. Invocation of the Holy Ghost, as at page 278, "Come, O Holy Ghost," &c.

"If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me" (Matt. xvi. 24). "Unless you do penance you shall all likewise perish." (Luke, xiii.) If you live according to the flesh you shall die. But if by the spirit you mortify the deed of the flesh you shall live" (Rom. viii. 13).

"I chastise my body, and bring it into subjection, lest perhaps when I have preached to others, I myself should become a castaway" (1 Cor. ix. 27).

Consider the necessity of self-denial. It goes hand-in-hand with holy humility. From the cradle to the grave, from the perfect use of reason till our heart has ceased to beat on our death-bed, three mortal enemies. of our salvation continually assail us. There are the allurements and scandals of a wicked world which try to seduce our hearts, and o draw us away from God. A greater enemy

is our own flesh, our own corrupt hearts. Fallen nature, the corrupt flesh of fallen Eve, will never give us peace, but will war against our salvation till death. St. John calls this enemy, "the concupiscence of the flesh, the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life" (1 John, ii. 16).

A still greater foe has sworn our ruin, and that is the devil, who "as a roaring lion. goes about seeking whom he may devour" (1 Peter, v. 8). "Our wrestling," says St. Paul, "is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and powers; against the rulers of the world of this darkness; against the spirits of wickedness in the high places' (Eph. vi. 12).

To overcome these three deadly enemies we have need of the constant habit and practice of self-denial.

The Word of God is clear and loud on the necessity of self-denial. "If any man," says our Blessed Saviour, "will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me." "Unless you do penance you shall all likewise perish." "If you live according to the flesh, you shall die." They who are Christ's have crucified their flesh with its vices and concupiscences" (Gal. v. 24).

The necessity of self-denial for every Christian who wishes to save his soul, is as clear as the sun in the heavens at mid-day. Every Saint who has gone to Paradise, has got there by denying himself, by subduing his passions, by overcoming flesh and blood, and by walking on the strait and rugged road of humility and self-denial. "Enter ye in," says our Blessed Redeemer, "at the narrow gate.. How narrow is the gate and strait the way that leadeth to life, and few there are that find it" (Matt. vii. 13).

The life of our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ is our model and example. From His birth in the crib at Bethlehem to His last moment on the Cross at Calvary, poverty, humiliation, sufferings, and selfdenial, compose His life. "If any man," says our Divine Redeemer, "will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me."

Mary, too, is the Mother of Sorrows. Mary is the Immaculate, the patient, the mortified the humble handmaid of the Lord."

No wonder, then, that St. Joseph, who excelled in every virtue, is the model of selfdenial, for he had ever before his eyes the example of Jesus, for he lived for thirty