Reflections, meditations, and prayers (with Gospel harmony) on the ... life ... of ... Jesus Christ [signed R.B.].

If we are in straitened circumstances, let us remember that the Son of Man had not where to lay His Head. We see Thee, O JESUS, travel up and down, poor, and unregarded by the great; and shall Thy followers strive to be rich and esteemed? Thy labours of love were maliciously slandered; and shall we not have patience to be reproved for our faults? The King of Glory did not disdain to be called the Carpenter's Son; and cannot our vileness brook disparagement? O how unlike are we to our blessed Example, Who left the glories of heaven to become the Pattern of Humility! How do we go astray from the sacred path which the Holy JESUS has traced with His Own steps ?

Pity, O LORD, the infirmities of Thy children, and arm us against the fear of this world; that under the influence of faith, hope, and charity, we who bear Thy badge and Name, may also bear Thy Cross. And since we must suffer as Christians, and deserve to suffer as sinners; may we, O LORD, bear our sufferings and privations as becometh Thy servants.

Meditations.

O LORD, the Hope and Desire of Thy servants, the Physician and Remedy of all our evils! I stand before the Eyes of Thy mercy, covered with the wounds and stains of sin. I know the sins which caused them, the punishment I deserve, and the injustice I have done Thee; but Thou alone knowest all their heinousness, as Thou alone canst blot them out.

I cannot, neither do I wish to, conceal myself from Thy justice, but I submit willingly to all the strokes of Thy Fatherly Hand; and however ungrateful I may have been for all Thy goodness to me, I await the chastisement, and the healing. I confess my sins to Thee, O Charitable Physician, grant me grace to weep for them, and forsake them. I cast myself at Thy Feet, LORD. Behold the transgressor of Thy law, the enemy of Thy Glory, the destroyer of Thy works, the waster of Thy gifts, the slave of his passions, disposed to evil and opposed to good, insensible to penitence, lax in Thy service, rebellious to Thy Light, and inflexible under Thy chastisements. How shall this guilty soul dare to appear in Thy holy Presence! what can I do then, O my GOD? for Thou forbiddest me to despair, though I find in myself no ground for hope. O Loving Shepherd of the wandering sheep! Open my eyes, that I may see, and loathe all that has been displeasing to Thee.

I render eternal thanks to Thee, O Divine Pastor of our souls, for the mercy and love Thou hast shown in taking upon Thee our sins. I adore that infinite love which made Thee take so much upon Thyself for my sake. I adore Thee for the watchings, hunger, thirst, weariness, and all the privations and inconveniences, which for three and thirty years Thou didst endure for the expiation of those sins to which I give myself up. I adore the love which made Thee so sensible to my miseries, the grief which Thou hast endured for my sins, the fervent zeal with which Thou hast satisfied for me. I adore those infinite Merits which have opened to me the treasures of the Divine

Mercy, the sacred sufferings which have arrested the just vengeance of Thy FATHER, and merited for me the pardon of my offences, and the eternal joy of saints.

Give me, O my LORD, the gratitude I ought to feel for all Thy goodness, for the long nights Thou didst pass in prayer, to draw down on me the benedictions of my Heavenly FATHER. In suffering hunger and thirst, Thou thoughtest of my intemperance. In Thy labours Thou sawest my slothfulness; in shedding for me tears of tenderness, Thou knewest the hardness of my heart; full of that eternal love which delivered Thee up to death for me, Thou seest me without love to Thee; in the austerities of Thy life, Thou didst consider the licence and delicacies of mine; when Thou endeavourest to draw me with Thy love, I fly from Thee; I take pleasure in sin for which Thou wast resolved to suffer, and I am eager to indulge my body, whilst Thou wast willing to afflict Thine.

O, my Saviour! behold a sinner, for whom Thou hast suffered so much, one who is poor, miserable, and unfaithful. I bow myself before Thee, vile as I am; but I plead the merits of Thy sufferings, and the promises of Thy mercies. I plead, LORD, the merits of Thy fastings, Thy watchings, Thy prayers, Thy selfdenials; O remember those sufferings which Thou hast endured, and pardon the sins which I have committed.

Prayer.

I adore, and praise, and glorify Thee, O LORD JESUS CHRIST, I bless Thee, I give thanks unto Thee,

O SON of the Living God! Who, for my sake, wast afflicted with discomforts, privations, heat, cold, hunger, thirst, toils, and sorrows; grant that I may cheerfully accept whatsoever poverty or adversity Thy hand may lay upon me. Give me grace in all perplexities or desertions of soul, in all the sorrows and privations of life, to remember Thy Example, that I may abide immoveable in Thee. May I regard Thy Presence in all places, and ever seek Thee, and not myself, Thy will and not my own. Amen.

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