these great acts of Faith and Hope are of no use If then these two Virtues without Charity are useless in respect of Salvation it is certain that of themselves without Charity they are not sufficient dispositions to receive into our brest the author of Salvation The Son of God entring into us by the Holy Communion would willingly find there a dwelling place prepared and worthy of him which cannot be except Charity be there For as S. Augustin says excellently well Faith is the foundation of the house of God in our Soul by Hope the Walls are raised but Charity is the roof and perfection of the work Domus Dei credendo fundatur sperando erigitur diligendo perficitur This is the reason why Salomon as it is recorded in Holy Writ building a Temple to God was not satisfied to lay the ground-work upon a Mountain and build it with stones of great value but over and above he caused 3. Reg. 6.20 that part of the Temple where the Ark of the Testament was to be placed to be covered and seeled with the purest Gold. The Holy Ghost teaching us by this figure that the house of God ought to be adorned with the most refined Gold of Charity without which it cannot be an agreeable or pleasing habitation for him In this divine Sacrament we receive the Bread of Life whereby as by Celestial food our Soul is nourished and preserv'd in the Life of Grace It is then required that it find the Soul alive no dead thing being capable of nourishment Now the life of the Soul is Charity and as the beloved Disciple saith 1. Jo. 3.14 He that loveth not is already dead This Celestial bread is the bread of the Children of God it is made for them and it is an horrible Sacrilege for any one to receive it who is not of that Number as we have said above Part. 1. Chap. 3. Art. 5. Vere panis filiorum non mittendus canibus Now what is it that makes men the Children of God and what is it by which they are distinguished from Children of the Devil St. Augustin Tract 5. in Epist 1. Jo. saith that it is Charity and nothing else Dilectio sola discernit inter filios Dei filios Diaboli The sign of the Cross Baptism frequenting the Church and the other marks of Christianity do not sufficiently distinguish betwixt the one and the other Charity alone is the only distinctive sign betwixt them He who loves God is the Child of God he who loves him not is the Child of perdition or of the Devil In fine it is a Heavenly banquet where our Lord gives himself for our food his body for meat and his blood for drink and to which he invites us with a love great beyond all comparison but he invites only his friends Eat says he Cant. 5.2 my friends and drink Now he is not a friend of Jesus Christ who doth not love him who doth not comply with his will in all things If you love me says he Jo. 14.14 keep my Commandments v. 21. He who knows my Commandments and observes them he and he alone it is that loves me It is his will that every one should come to this Banquet with that preparation which such a feast deserves that we bring with us the Nuptial garment if he find here any one so rash and temerarious as to present himself before him without this Ornament he rejects him as unworthy Now this robe is nothing else but that of Charity which renders our Soul acceptable to God and worthy to approach unto him Ps 44.14 In vestitu deaurato circundata varietate In a word it is most certain that to communicate well and as we ought we must be in the state of grace which without Charity it is impossible to be and this is the reason why we cannot communicate worthily without the Queen of Virtues ARTICLE II. That we must have a special care to distinguish false Charity from true THere is not any one who questions the precedent truth all agreeing that to receive worthily there must of necessity be the love of God in our heart since he hath bestowed himself upon us with such an admirable so unexpressible a love But all do not agree in the nature and quality of this love forasmuch as there are many who judge of it rather according to their own inclinations then consequent to the rules of truth There is not any one except perhaps some furious desperate Person who will not love God whom he knows to be the Author of all good and who does not at least think he loves him but there are almost infinite numbers of People who deceive themselves in this their belief and have nothing but a false and imaginary hope of God whereas they think they truly love him Such is their Charity who say they love God and yet hate their Neighbour or who will not pardon an injury or deny to be reconciled to their Enemy for as St. John says very well 1. Jo. 4.20 If any one shall say he loves God and hates his brother he is a Lyar. Such is their Charity who say they love God yet they have ill gotten goods which they will not restore who continue in an evil habit of Mortal Sin without having a firm purpose to amend and theirs who neglect to acquit themselves of the obligations of their State In a word all theirs who fail in the observance of Gods Commandments in any thing whatsoever This being an undoubted Maxim that the true and only mark of the love of God is to keep his Commandments If any one love me saith our Lord Jo. 14.23 he will keep my words that is my Commandments he who doth not love me observes them not And St. John after him 1. Jo. 2.4 assures us that he who says that he knoweth him God that is in the Scripture phrase he who saith he loves God and does not keep his Commandments is a Lyar and the truth is not in him All and every one of these sorts of Charity are false and deceitfull those who love God in this manner do not love him at all and those who Communicate only with this kind of love are unworthy Communicants and eat and drink Damnation to themselves The true love of God is only that which makes us observe his Commandments in all things which makes us fearfull to incurr his displeasure by any Mortal Sin and which makes us preferr his friendship before all whatsoever is most dear unto us as before our Pleasures our Estate our Honour and our Life it self being ready to loose all or any of these things when otherwise we might preserve them rather then offend God. Behold Theotime what it is that is the love of God without which it is impossible to be in the State of Grace or Communicate worthily and as we ought and that you may understand it better read what follows ARTICLE III. What is Charity IT is a Virtue
the most delicious viands you can possibly present him with Prepare your self to make him an offering of your heart to love him and of your self with all fidelity to serve him 3. Set forth upon your way to meet him and to invite him into your house by good thoughts and Holy affections Cant. 5. Veniat dilectus meus in hortum suum O Jesus come into my Soul as into a Garden which much delights thee Make her O make her fit and worthy to receive thee cleanse her and vouchsafe to take away from her whatsoever may be Offensive to thee plant in her and adorn her with the flowers which best please thee that is with Purity and Humility Veni Domine Jesu Come O Saviour of my Soul Come and save me by thy Grace and deliver me from those Enemies who design my Eternal ruine After Communion PErform that towards Jesus Christ which we are wont to do when a Person of Quality whom we have long expected is arrived For after the first meeting and salutation we conduct him to the apartment prepared for him and there we perform these four things 1. We give him some great or signal testimonies of our respect friendship and acknowledgment for the Honour which we receive by his presence 2. We offer him the best things we have such as may be most pleasing to him 3. If we have need of his assistance we beg such things as we want willingly would have And in fine 4. When he returns we give him thanks acknowledging the honour of the visit we renew and repeat to him the protestations of fidelity friendship and service Behold as in a pattern how you are to behave your self towards Jesus Christ immediately after Communion As soon therefore as you have receiv'd the Sacred host with much Faith and a profound Humility adore our Lord who is within you Then departing modestly from the holy Table withdraw your self into some convenient place and employ your self in the following thoughts Conduct our Lord not into your body since he is there already but into the place of your Soul wherein he most delights that is into your heart and your affection That is to say six your thoughts upon him and comply with the following duties Make acts of Adoration of Love and of Acknowledgment in this manner and first Of Adoration O my God and my Saviour Jesus Christ I adore thee from the bottom of my heart I firmly believe that I now possess thy Body thy Blood thy Soul and thy Divinity I acknowledge that thou art in me all and every one of these ways O Greatness of God! is it possible that thou shouldest humble thy self so low O goodness how immense art thou and yet art pleased thus to remain with us Thou dost not only come and inhabit with us but thou bestowest thy self upon us for our food and nourishment and to whom to a poor and wretched servant as I am A Lord to his Slave God to his creature Jesus Christ to a Sinner O res mirabilis manducat Dominum pauper servus humilis Altho' there were nothing else but my mean and base condition it would make me unworthy to receive thee but I am become more undeserving by my sins and yet thou hast the goodness not only to say to me as David did to Miphiboseth that I shall Eat at thy Table 2. Reg. 9.7 Et tu comedes panem in mensa mea semper But also thou thy self offerest thy self unto me for my food and nourishment O Divine Goodness how have I deserved such and so great favours Ibid. Quis sum ego quoniam respexisti super canem mortuum Ponder well upon these words and consider what you were before by sin less in the sight of God then a dead Dog in respect of his Master and that you are now by his grace and favour restored to the number of the Children of God and seated at his Table nourished with his Body and Blood. Next pass on to the Acts of Love and Acknowledgment Acts of Love towards Jesus Christ O My God what return shall I make for this so signal favour and what shall I do to acknowledge it Is it possible that I should not continually love thee after this excess of love which thou hast shew'd me Thou hast loved me to that degree as to lay down thy Life for my sake and shall I not make this return as only to live for thee Thou at present hast communicated thy self wholly to me and shall not I be from henceforward wholly thine O my God permit me not to be so ungratefull and so insensible of thy Love and my own Salvation I protest here before thee that I will be faithfull to thee for the future that I will never part from thee by any disobedience to thy Commandments Ps 118.93 In aeternum non obliviscar justificationes tuas quia in ipsis vivificasti me I will never forget thy bounty nor the favour which thou hast done me in admitting me to thy mercy I will love thee with all my heart O my Saviour Ps 17. Diligam te Domine fortitudo mea firmamentum meum refugium meum liberator meus I will love thee and I do love thee O my God my strength my support my refuge and my deliverer Thou art my God and my All. Deus meus omnia What is there either in Heaven or upon Earth that I should love besides thee Ps 72.25 Quid mihi est in Coelo a te quid volui super terram Deus cordis mei pars mea Deus in aeternum O my God I will not love either in Heaven or Earth any thing but thee Thou art the God of my heart the inheritance and only happyness I pretend to I have made choice of thee and I will never change An Offering to Jesus Christ WHat shall I give thee O my Saviour in acknowledgment of thy favours and as an earnest of the love which now I promise thee I have not any thing worthy of thee and if I had I have nothing but what is from thee and what is thine and due to thee upon all accounts but thou art pleased to accept what is thy own upon several heads Hence it is that I offer my self unto thee that is my Body and my Soul which are now sanctified by the Honour of thy Divine presence I consecrate them both unto thee since at present thou hast vouchsafed they should serve thee as a Temple My Body never more to be employ'd as an Instrument of Sin My Soul to know thee to love thee and evermore to be faithfull to thee O Lord bless I beseech thee the Present which I make thee Sanctify them both since they have served thee for a Temple Benedic Domine domum istam Permit not that my Body be any more defiled with impure delights nor my Soul by a will to commit any Mortal Sin. This resolution I here make in thy presence
Inferior nay and even his Creature most heinously offended against the strictest tyes of humanity and gratitude and from whom he can neither expect a favour nor fear an Injury as for example a Master Superior King or Benefactor That this Person seek his friendship by whom he had been grievously offended This is that which one man never performs to another Yet this is that which God performs towards man viz. a Master towards his Servant a King towards his Subject a Judge towards his Criminal and that I may comprize all in one word God toward his Rebellious and Ungratefull Creature And in this he manifests unto the world a goodness and love which only appertains unto himself In hoc est charitas quoniam ipse prior dilexit nos 1. Joh. 4. It was in this point saith St. John that God made appear his goodness in loving us first and even then saith St. Paul when we were his Enemies he reconciled us unto his friendship Rom. 5. Was there ever any Bounty like unto this See here how God behaves himself towards man in this occasion Let us now see how man comports himself towards God. You understand Theotime very well what his duty is it is without doubt to yield himself conquer'd by this admirable Love and to cast himself into the arms of this infinite goodness which invites him so amorously to receive him into his favour But stand astonished at both his and your own actions after so long entreaty This God whom you have grievously offended seeks after you first and exhorts you to return unto him offering you pardon for your Sins This God so great and so powerfull who hath no need of you in any thing invites you and entreats you to return unto his favour He who can raise as much Glory to himself from your Damnation in punishing you by his justice as he shall receive from your Salvation by making you partake of his mercy Yet nevertheless out of the sole desire which he hath of your happiness he abaseth himself even to invite and urge you to your Conversion and you will not hearken to him at all you refuse or defer to follow the invitation of his love and perform what he requires of you for your own good Can there be an affront like unto this Job in his miseries complained that even his Servants themselves did not regard him and that they insolently scoft at the requests which he made them Servum meum vocavi non respondit mihi ore proprio deprecavi illum Job 10. Judge then how God may blame you and what complaints he will make of you when you continue in your wicked life and defer to obey his admonitions will not he have reason to make the same complaint as he did in times past of the Jews I have stretched forth my hands saith he towards that incredulous and always rebellious people which resists my words Isai 65. Tota die expandi manus meas ad populum incredulum That which a Master will not do in respect of his Servant which is a man like himself God performs in regard of you and you take no notice of it but to speak plainer God performs that for your sake which a Servant would scarce do for his Master he seeks you as if he had need of you he sollicites you as if he had a want of you O divine Love when I consider thee I cannot but exclaim according to the expression of an Author of these latter days O amor O pietas nostris bene provida rebus O bonitas servi facta ministra tui Picus Mirand O Love O piety of God who hast so great a care of our Salvation O goodness how great art thou that makest thy self a Servant of thy Servants But converting our consideration to our own obdurateness and ingratitude and to the contempt we have of thee I deplore our misery with the words of the same Author O amor O pietas nostris male cognita seclis O bonitas nostris nunc prope victa malis O Divine Love O goodness how little art thou reflected upon in our age O bounty it is true that thou art infinite yet our Sins are become so great that we have much reason to fear lest they should furmount thy goodness and oblige thee to withdraw thy Mercy from us CHAP. V. The Fourth Reflection upon Gods anger against those who refuse to yield to these Exhortations THe injury of this refusal being such as I have said or rather above all that we can think or imagine it is certain that it highly moves Gods anger against those who render themselves guilty Quanta est haec injuria quam graviter punienda cum vilissimus vermis clamantem ad se audire dedignatur creatorem St. Bern. Sec. 23. de diversis How great is this injury saith St. Bernard and what Chastizements ought it not to expect when wretched man who is less than a little worm of the Earth is so impudent as to refuse to hearken to the voice of his Creator who speaks to him for his Salvation Without doubt this refusal doth greatly provoke the anger of Almighty God as it is a contempt of his divine words and admonitions of all injuries contempt is the most insupportable and of all contempts there is none greater then that by which one refuses a reconciliation with their Sovereign principally when he offers himself and expresses his desire what will then the contempt be which one shews on this occasion towards Almighty God himself He that would Seriously consider of it would soon perceive how injurious and affrontive it is to Almighty God and how much it provokes the indignation of God against those who render themselves guilty but that I may make you more clearly discern it I shall give you here the judgment of God himself upon this subject which he hath declared in many places of the Scripture reade and consider well that which followeth In the 65. Chapter of Isaias God numbers up all the iniquities of his People and after he had reproached their enormous ingratitude he saith he will destroy them for all their crimes and particularly because they had contemned those mild exhortations which he had so often made them for their conversion and Salvation And you who have forsaken the Lord who have forgotten my holy Mount I will number you in the Sword and you shall all fall by Slaughter because I have called and you have not answered I spake and you have not heard and you did evil in mine eyes and you have chosen the things that I would not Isa 65. In the following Chapter he repeats the same menaces where he saith that as the wicked take a delight in the things that displease him so he will take a pleasure in bringing upon them all the evils that they feared and then adds the reason I have called and there was none that would answer I have spoken and they heard not Isai 66.
of your Sins you must read over these same Motives with much attention again and again not once or twice but many times you must begg continually of God that he will vouchsafe to grant you his Grace to understand them well and that your Soul may be moved with them in reading them you must pause some time upon those which touch you most you must weigh them well and imprint them in your heart and having understood them cast your self upon your knees and deplore your Sins in the presence of God upon those motives which you conceived best and which affected you most demand of him pardon and beseech him to shew his mercy toward you making use of this or the like prayer O my God! have pitty on me and let me partake of the effects of thy great mercy I acknowledge now the evil which I have done and apprehend the grievousness of my Sins Thou art he O my God whom I have offended whom I have attacqued rebellious ungratefull and perfidious Creature as I am Thee have I abandoned to follow my pleasures and passions I have lost thy grace and I who have been created to thy Image and likeness by my Sins have made my foul like unto those monsters of ingratitude the Devils I have lost Heaven my blessed Country I have merited Hell and Eternal Damnation which I shall never be able to avoid without the assistance of thy great mercy But above all I have infinitely offended thy bounty The injury which I have offered it is so great that it caused thy Son Jesus Christ my Saviour to suffer death O my God! how can I worthily deplore so great an evil who will give water to my head and a fountain of Tears unto my eyes to deplore night and day my misery and malice and to do Penance for my sins Make this or the like prayer but make it from the bottom of your soul make it with an humble and contrite heart in the presence of God in acknowledgment of your sins and misery Run it not over briefly take time to make it make it long and for many days Put your self in the State of a true Penitent in the sight of God and that you may perform it better make use of this means which I shall give you CHAP. XIII Of Examples of Penance taken out of Holy Writ ALltho ' what we have said may be very effectual to excite Contrition and a true sorrow for our Sins yet we will add in this place another means which without question must needs be more efficacious They are some Examples of true Penitents which we find in the Holy Scripture as well in the Old as New Testament These are the true models by which we may frame ours and learn what is true Penance and how to practice it Reade then Theotime and attend Consider David after his Sin how full of interiour trouble and concern he was for the evil he had done bedewing as he saith his bed with his tears and having always his Sins before his eyes demanding mercy of God and beseeching him to turn away his eyes from his Iniquities not to take away from him his Holy Spirit not to contemn the Sacrifice which he offer'd him of an afflicted mind of an humble and contrite heart Behold a true Penitent behold what true Contrition is Vade fac similiter Imitate this Example and you are a true Penitent You will find these excellent dispositions of a penitent mind in the seven Penitential Psalms if you reade them wth attention Behold King Ezechias weeping and lamenting in the presence of God and promising him to pass again over in his heart and in the bitterness of his Soul all his mis-spent years to bewail his Sins and obtain remission of them Reade his Canticle which begins Ego dixi in dimidio Esai 38. Cast your eyes upon the good Israelites who were sent Captives into Babilon after the taking of Jerusalem doing Penance for their Sins which had thrown them into that miserable state crying out to God from the bottom of their hearts Baruch 2. We have sinned against the Lord our God in not obeying his word To the Lord our God belongs justice and uprightness but to us nothing but shame and confusion which our iniquities have deserved We have sinned we have done evil we have dealt unjustly O Lord our God in all thy Commandments Turn from us thy anger hear O Lord our Prayers and our Petitions open thy eyes and consider that the dead praise thee not but the Soul which is sensible and afflicted with the greatness of the evils she hath done and performs due Penance for them Consider Manasses also in his Conversion groaning under the weight of his Sins and lamenting his Iniquities with such a sorrow that he acknowledged himself unworthy even to lift up his eyes towards Heaven so great he confest were his offences You will perceive these words to proceed from a truly penitent Soul overwhelmed with sorrow for his Sins Oratio Manasses 'T is true O Lord I have infinitely offended thee and my Sins are more in number then the Sand of the Sea I am unworthy to lift up my eyes towards Heaven to demand thy mercy having provoked thy anger as I have done by my Iniquities But now O my God I prostrate my self from my heart before thee to beg thy mercy I have sinned O my God I have sinned I acknowledge all the evil I have done pardon O Lord pardon I beg of thee and earnestly beseech thee do not destroy me with my Iniquities do not reserve me to the utmost rigour of thy Justice do not condemn me for ever unto the fire of Hell Remember that thou art my God the God of Penitents and thy immense bounty will best appear in me whilst it makes thee to save a miserable Sinner unworthy of thy grace and gives me occasion to praise thee eternally for thy infinite goodness Go to the Gospel and there you will find more pressing examples of Penance and Contrition There you may see a holy Penitent moved to that degree with sorrow for her Sins that she seeks the Son of God and having found him casts her self at his feet washes them with her tears such was the compunction of her heart and so abundantly did they flow wipes them with her hair and annoints them with precious Ointment thus consecrating these Riches that Hair those Tears to pious uses which till then she had employ'd in vanity And thus that sorrow she had so happily conceived broke forth into all the Signs of the love of God and spared nothing to serve him from whom she expected the remission of her Sins So that She deserved to hear from the mouth of our Saviour Luc. 7.47 that her Sins were forgiven her because she loved much There you shall find the head of the Apostles unfortunately fall'n denying his divine Master three several times But he had scarce ended his last denial when
in affairs of greatest importance wherefore as in those occasions every one applies himself seriously and with all his power and useth all imaginable diligence and endeavours that nothing may be wanting which is necessary to compass his design we must do the same in this of Confession where we do not treat of any temporal concern but of the securing our Eternal Salvation by gaining the remission of our Sins a remission which cannot be otherwise obtained but by means of a good Confession To practice well this general rule we must perform these three things First we must pray to Almighty God and beg of him he will vouchsafe his Divine Light whereby we may see our sins this is a means which we must never forget and which we may say is absolutely necessary The heart of man is so secret that he himself oftentimes doth not know himself and none but God can search it to the bottom Our Conscience is sometimes so darkened and so obscured that we are not able to see into it either by means of our memory or knowledge only God by his grace and inward light which he communicates to the Soul is able to dissipate and disperse that darkness which when he doth we easily discover many spots which before we did not see as we see in the rays of the Sun many things which when we had only a lesser light were hidden from our eyes Wherefore Theotime in this preparation you must never desist but continually pray to God for this heavenly light Psal 17.29 Deus meus illumina tenebras meas O my God clear the darkness of my Soul that I may discover my sins Come O Holy Ghost dart me from heaven a ray of thy divine light Secondly you must observe some method in searching out your sins that so you may not forget any the best is to run over in order the Commandments of God and of the Church with the seven Deadly Sins For being every sin is a transgression of the Law of God we cannot more easily fall into the account of the sins we have committed then by running over his Commandments and examining upon every one by it self whether we have transgressed against it in what and how and being one may offend against them not only one but many ways it is necessary that we know the divers Sins which may be committed against each either to learn them by books which treat thereof or by the instruction of some understanding Person We shall set down hereafter an exact Examen Thirdly to make yet better this examen of your Conscience you must retire into your self there to take cognizance of your inclinations your chief passions the Sins which you most ordinarily fall into the occasions you have to offend God the persons you converse with the places you have frequented the affairs you have been concern'd in the particular obligations of your state the omissions you are guilty of and many other such like things If you practise well these three means Theotime you comply with the diligence which God requires at your hands in this preparation but practice them with serenity and quietness of mind without racking or torturing your Soul for disquietness and anxiety of mind are so far from being an help that they are an hindrance to Confession Remember that God requires nothing from you but what you can perform perform it then orderly and faithfully and when you have done concern not your self any more about your examen but beg pardon of God for your Sins CHAP. X. Of the distinction which must be made between Mortal and Venial Sin. IN this examen of Conscience we must not only employ the memory to remember the Sin but also the judgment to discern the quality and grievousness of them it being certain that all Sins are not equal or alike The first and the most signal difference which ought to be observed is that of Mortal and Venial the knowledge of this distinction is absolutely necessary in this place because Mortal Sin depriving us of the grace of God cannot be remitted but by a penitential sorrow it requires an entire Confession a far greater sorrow and another kind of satisfaction then Venial which doth not destroy the grace of God in a Soul may be forgiven without the Sacrament and doth not require necessarily to be Confessed altho' it be always very good to do it That you may understand this difference right you must know That every Sin is a trangression of the Law of God but with this difference that it is sometimes heavy or heinous and sometimes light It is heavy when it is acted in a matter of concern with knowledge and consent It is light when it wants either all or any of these three conditions That is either when the thing it self is light or being heavy is without sufficient consent or with consent but without knowledge of the evil so that it be not an affected wilfull or voluntary ignorance The first is called Mortal taking it's name from it's effect by reason of the death it causeth in the Soul by depriving her of the grace of God which is its Life The second is call'd Venial because offending God but lightly it is more pardonable The heavy Trangression offends God grievously it makes one incurr his displeasure robs the soul of Grace makes it lose the right it had to Heaven which is the inheritance of the Children of God and renders it subject to Eternal Damnation The light Transgression offending God but slightly doth not make the Soul incurr his absolute displeasure but only it causes some small diminution of the love which God hath for her All that which the Scripture says of the ill effects of Sin is to be understood of the first transgression as Jac. 1.15 That it causeth death Isa 59.2 That it sets God and man at a distauce And in a word all that which we have said above in the Second part Chap. 10. And that which the Scripture says that Prov. 24.16 The Just Man falls seven times a day that Jac. 3.2 All of us offend God many ways that 1. Jo. 18. If we say we have no Sin we deceive our selves Is all to be understood of the Second As these two sorts of sins are much different as well in their weight or enormity as effect so also are they very unlike in their remission for Mortall sin cannot be pardoned but by the Sacrament of Penance or perfect Contrition out of the Sacrament but always with relation to the Sacrament and an obligation to receive it whereas veniall sin may be remitted by the only remorse for having committed it accompanied with a resolution of amendment For this reason in Confession we must take great notice of the Sins which are Mortal or which we believe to be so that we may Confess them exactly and entirely without concealing any deplore them in the sight of God and do the Penance they shall deserve CHAP. XI Of the
to abstain from these sort of actions but also to honour God by good and profitable works We shall set them forth in the following verses Sanctificare diem post sex qui septimus orbes Volvitur sanctam menti indulgere quietem Auctorem ut proprium agnoscat veneretur ametque Tertia lex jubet a primis jam lata diebus 1. Hinc procul esse jubet manuum quo vita paratur Omne opus 2. humanis animumque avertere curis 3. Vt sancto vacet obsequio propriaeque saluti 4. Abstergatque dolens incauto quas sibi sordes Aspersit vesanus amor mundique suique Inde sacri quaerens caelestia pabula verbi Mentem avidam pascat sanctoque incendat amore 5. Quam male proh dolor haec servat mandata diebus Qui sacris ludos epulas vana secutus Gaudia criminibus foedat pia tempora festum Non mentis sed carnis agens male sanus Averno Consecrat omnipotens sibi quos sacravit honores 1. The first Sin against this Commandment is to do on the Sunday any servile works that is to say handy-works which have some temporall gain for their end Consider whether you have done any or whether you were the cause that others did either by making them labour in your service or for your divertisement without a considerable necessity 2. It is also a sin against this Commandment to be employed any considerable time upon holy-days in labouring about temporall affairs as Merchants Advocates Solicitors and other Officers of Justice do who spend one part of the Sunday in business and the other in recreation 3. Is the Sin of omission as not to employ ones selfon these holy-days in pious exercises and especially not to hear Mass as the Church expressly Commands under pain of Mortall sin or not to hear it well but without attention or reverence For altho' in this case one complys with the precepts of the Church yet he doth not satisfy that of God who commands us to perform well and piously all holy duties 4. Those cannot easily be exempt from Sin who on these holy-days neither think at all of God nor their Salvation who are neither present at divine service nor at Sermons but especially those who make a custome and an habit of it for this is to neglect the Sanctification of the Sunday and the end for which it was ordained which cannot be done without a great Sin. 5. The greatest and most greivous profanation of the Sunday and festivall-days is committed by those who spend these holy-days in idleness in gaming in dances in feasting and other recreations which instead of sanctifying the feasts are a dishonour to them and by this means God who ought on those days to be more particularly honoured is much offended These profanations of Sundays and holy-days are very common and yet great Sins And therefore every one is to examin himself strictly in this point The EXAMEN upon the Fourth Commandment Honour thy Father and thy Mother THis Commandment regulates the duty of Children towards their Father and Mother and by consequence or according to a necessary proportion that of other inferiours towards their Superiours viz. Of Schollars towards those that teach them Of Servants towards their Masters Of Subjects towards their Princes and Magistrates Of all the Faithfull towards their Ecclesiastical Prelates And reciprocally of all sorts of Superiours towards those who are Subject to them as you may see in the following Verses Quod Nati patribus debent quod jure magistris Discipuli servi Dominis quod subditus omnis His quibus aut populis dare jura aut pascere verbò Coelesti dedit omnipotens coeloque parare I. Lex quarta edicit statuitque reciproca cunctis Officia Hinc natos 1. venerari 2. amare parentes 3. Jussa sequi docet ac monitis parere 5. vereri Et dum corripiunt poenisque salubribus instant 6. Placare offensos verbis mollibus iras Mulcere aversis actu meliore placere II. 7. Confectos annis aegros inopesque levare Qua licet auxilio Patres eademque magistris III. Reddere discipulos servos parere fidemque IV. Praestare illaesam Reges ut subditi honorent V. Pastoresque suae quibus est data cura salutis Auscultent venerentur ament dicta sequantur VI. At patribus contra atque aliis lex aequa vicissim Praecipit 1. ut recto chara amplectantur amore Pignora 2. provideant naturae commoda primum 3. Praecipuam tamen aeternae veraeque salutis Curam habeant nec nata sibi sed debita coelo Dona Dei natos reputent 4. quos nosce supremum Auctorem rerum doceant pariterque vereri Coelestem redamare patrem 5. tum mente sagaci Explorent puerorum animos mollia fingant Ingenia sanctum verae pietatis amorem Alta mente bibant seros quae crescat in annos 6. Emendent peccata ruat ne labilis aetas In vitium nullis posthac cohibenda catenis 7. Corripiant juste stulta indulgentia natos Ne perimat paenasque timens adhibere salubres Aeternae addicat paenae puerosque patresque Ista docet lex sancta patres eademque magistris Praescribit dominisque quos neglecta suorum Reddere cura potest alieno crimine sontes The Sins which Children commit against their Fathers and Mothers are 1. To deny them their due respect as when they despise them interiourly in their heart or exteriourly by words scornfull gestures or actions 2. To be deficient in the love they owe them as when they hate them or wish their death or any other misfortune or forsake them in their necessity 3. To fail in their obedience if it be in a matter of Consequence it is a mortall Sin or else to obey them but not readily as with repugnance impatience or despight Or what is worse to obey them in things unlawfull 4. To slight to scoff at their reprehensions to take no notice of them or not to benefit themselves by them 5. To resist their corrections and wish them harm 6. To put them into passion and take no care to pacify them again by submissive words by obeying and complying with their desires 7. Not to assist them in their old age in their sickness and in what other necessities To these Sins may be added the not executing their last Will and Testament after their death or not to procure Prayers for them II. Disciples and Schollars owe to their masters and to all those who instruct them a great part of the same dutys as respect obedience and the like in which they should examen themselves III. Servants ought to examen themselves concerning the obedience they owe to their Masters whether they have fail'd either in their trust or in the dilligence which is required at their hands whether through their fault they have displeased them whether they have neglected their reasonable and just interest whether they have obey'd them in things unlawfull
therefore I will expect him And St. Paul Rom. 5.2 when he assures us that he glories in the hope of the glory or happiness of the Children of God and when he exhorts all Christians to a good Life Expecting says he Tit. 2.13 the blessed hope and coming of the glory of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ This hope is certain and secure in as much as it is built upon Gods promise who can never fail of his word having both a will and a power to perform whatsoever he is pleased to promise This made the same Apostle affirm 2. Tim. 1.12 that he knew very well in whom he had put his trust and that he was altogether assur'd of the power he had in effect to fullfill his promise But whereas these divine promises are only conditional and made only to such who are his Faithfull Servants our hope ought also always to suppose this condition of our Fidelity and thus the certainty ought always to be accompanyed with a holy distrust or disconfidence in our selves which makes us work our Salvation with fear and trembling and as St. Peter hath it 2. Pet. 1.10 Secure our Vocation and Election by good works ARTICLE II. Of the good which we expect by Hope TWo goods there are we expect Grace and Glory this is the end which is prepared for us and that is the means whereby to obtain that end God comporting himself if I may say so in this our great concern like a good equally and a wise Father whose goodness obliges him to prepare an Inheritance for his Children and whose Wisdom finds out means whereby they may come to the possession of it Glory shall be our supream and final happiness wherein our Soul shall see God as he is in himself face to face and thence conceive so entire and perfect a love of him that every the least vacancy of the Soul shall be fill'd with an incomprehensible joy and an happiness that shall not receive either the least alteration or any end Even our body shall have its share in this happiness and glory For after the Resurrection the glorious splendors of the blessed Soul united to the body shall by the reflection of her rays render it not only immortall but discharge it also from all possibility of change endowing it with the four qualities which St. Paul 1. Cor. 15. in answer to that question v. 35. how do the dead rise again and with what kind of body shall they come hath discovered to us Impassibility v. 42. Clarity 43. Agility ibid. Subtility 44. The first is a blessed incorruption which shall exempt us and render us incapable of all either pain or grief The second a Glory whereby it shall become so bright as not only to vye with but to surpass the Sun The third is an active Power or strength by which it shall pass in an Instant at the beck of her will wheresoever she pleaseth without the least trouble and by the fourth as a Spirit it shall penetrate and pass thro' the most solid body without any impediment or let Behold what we expect after this life both for our Soul and bodies And as to what concerns this present life we expect from the hands of God the means whereby we may obtain this so happy end forasmuch as of our selves and by all our naturall endeavours though never so great left to our selves we are not able to arrive unto it This end inasmuch as it is a supernaturall good requires in our Soul a disposition of the same nature with it this is Sanctifying Grace the seed of Glory and the precious pledge of that Eternall Inheritance as the Apostle hath it speaking thus to the Ephesians c. 1.13 You are sign'd with the holy Spirit of promise which is the pledge of our Inheritance This Grace is a Supernaturall quality infused by God into our Soul at the instant he admits us into his freindship a quality which remits the Sin Sanctifies the Soul embellishes and renders her acceptable to God and gives her a certain right to eternall glory That Justified by his grace we may be heirs according to hope of Everlasting Life Tit. 3.7 Now since this grace this disposition to glory is also Supernatural it is necessary we have the assistance of some powerfull hand to obtain it and this can be no other then the hand of God as there is none but God alone who can endow the Soul with Sanctifying Grace This assistance is also called grace because it is graciously and out of Gods pure mercy bestow'd upon us but it is called actuall as the other is stil'd habituall grace because it is transient only not permanent as Sanctifying grace the habit is it is that action by which God moves the powers of our Soul our understanding will disposing her to her justification this by clearing her understanding and letting her see what chiefly concerns her by good thoughts which he bestows upon her moving her will to embrace that good she sees so much imports her by the holy affections which he vouchsafes to give her These helps have three effects in us For first they awake our Soul by interiour illuminations and religious motions oblige her to look seriously after her Salvation 2ly Once she is thus moved it assists her in the due performance of that good which is propos'd unto her gives her strength to raise her self up to God by acts of Faith Hope Contrition and the love of God all which dispose her to receive at the same time the remission of her Sins and justifying Grace 3ly As soon as she has received this grace these helps afford her still more strength to stand fast and conserve her self amongst the throng of temptations and to persever constant even to the end by her flight from evill and the frequent exercise of good and pious works Hence proceed the different names by which we call this actuall grace for the first we call Exciting Operating or Preventing grace the 2d Assisting or Cooperating grace the 3d the grace of Perseverance God hath bestowed upon us all these graces for our Salvation But we are to observe that they have not always their full and entire effect upon the will for she being only mov'd and press'd and not necessitated by the graces may either resist or not regard them according as the Councill of Trent sess 6. c. 5. remarks nay very often doth resist for we are advised in holy writ Psal 94.9 not to harden our hearts yet however we do harden them for frequently we do not hearken to the voice of God but resist his holy spirit as St. Stephen complains Act. 7.51 that the Jews did This advertisement may serve in this place to teach us an important truth that it is not enough to expect from the hands of God the means whereby we may compass our Salvation but that we ought to take great care to be faithfull to his dispensations and
infused or given by God which makes us love him above all things and our Neighbour as our selves This definition is taken from the Commandment which God hath given us to love him Luc. 10.27 Thou shalt love says he the Lord thy God with thy whole heart with thy whole Soul with all thy strength and with all thy mind and thy Neighbour as thy self These words with thy whole heart signify what we have already said that we must love God above all things and that our heart ought to be wholly his loving nothing either equal with him or more then him but under and less then him and only in order to his Service This greater love doth not consist in having a more ardent a more tender and a more affective love for God then for any other thing altho' this were to be wished for But it lies in this that we esteem God more then all the things of this world and that in our heart and effectually we preferr his friendship before all other goods and whatsoever it is we love So that we resolve to abandon and loose them all rather then be deprived of the grace of God. This preference and this resolution are so necessarily required in the love of God that they are the only distinctive signs it hath and it cannot subsist without them So that in the moment in which any one willingly and in effect breaketh this resolution he looseth the love of God. However to make this preference and resolution we need not represent in particular all the things before which we ought to preferr the love of God This is neither necessary nor always expedient It sufficeth that we have a general but an effectual resolution never to loose the grace of God for any thing of the world nor to do any thing whereby we may mortally offend him This resolution is the fruit and off-spring of the Virtue of Charity which is that Divine quality which God powers into our Souls when he receives us into his grace by the holy Spirit which is given us as the Apostle speaks Rom. 5.5 It continues with us as long as we conserve this resolution but as soon as we come to loose it by any either action or desire which is contrary unto it we are immediately deprived of this holy Charity which is the Queen and Mother of the other Virtues and without which all others are insignificant in order to Salvation I do not here examine the motives which ought to induce us to the love of God viz. whether it be that of the reward we expect from him or that of friendship and benevolence which we owe him Charity easily unites these two together although it be not built or grounded upon the reward yet it doth not exclude it but the Soul which is endowed with Charity loving God for himself expects at his hands the reward of that love which is him himself She loves God because of the recompence but she takes care that she do not say that she loves him by reason of the reward alone for she would love him although she looked for nothing from him and as St. Bernard de diligendo Deo says excellently well We never love God without a reward altho' we ought to love him without minding the reward for tho' true Charity be never fruitless yet it is not mercenary she seeks not her own Interest It is an affection of the Soul not a contract It is neither it self obtain'd nor doth it get any thing by bargain as Merchants do It is a voluntary affection and makes one give himself freely to his God. True love is satisfied with it self its reward is our beloved We have already spoken of this Virtue abstractedly and in it self in other places as in the Instruction of Youth Part. 4. Chap. 3. 16. and in that of Penance in the Examen upon the First Commandment Wherefore I shall only add here what concerns it in relation to the Sacrament of the Eucharist and in as much as it serves for the Holy Communion ARTICLE IV. Of the Motives of the love of God. IT was an admirable expression of St. Bernard ibid. that the reason of loving God is God himself and therefore when any one asks why we ought to love God One cannot answer better then by saying because he is God. But being God contains in himself an infinity of perfections and qualities which render him infinitely amiable this general reason of loving God because he is God is divided into many particular Motives which are so many several obligations to love that infinite goodness which can never be sufficiently loved Thus when I consider that God is great and perfect in himself an that he circles within himself all possible perfections all Power Goodness Wisdom Justice I find reason to love him above all other things because there is nothing amongst Creatures which is so amiable as he and he deserves to be beloved altho' supposing a thing impossible he should never have done us any good If I descend to the benefits which he hath bestowed upon us and consider him as Creator of Heaven and Earth and of all those excellent pieces which he hath made for our sake I find reason to love him above all things for how can I but love so great a bounty which hath wrought such wonders for us Heaven and Earth and all things in them says St. Augustin l. 10. Conf. c. 6. tell me on every side to love thee they declare the same to all that none may be excus'd if they do not love thee If I reflect upon my self I acknowledge I am the work of that immense goodness which out of nothing hath made me what I am and I cannot refrain from loving him if I love my self and own my self for what I am viz. the workmanship of God. This made St. Bernard ibid. say that God deserves to be loved for his own sake even by the very Infidel who although he be ignorant of Jesus Christ yet he knows himself therefore even the Infidel is inexcusable if he do not love his Lord with all his heart with all his Soul with all his strength viz. A certain innate or natural equity not unknown to Reason cries out aloud to him from within that he ought to love him with all his power from whom he cannot but know that he hath received all whatsoe're he hath If I consider the Redemption I there find a bottomless Abyss of love an unexhaustible fountain from whence motives to love that great and singular goodness which hath delivered me from an eternal ruine continually flow For as St. Bernard ibid. very well observes If I owe my self totally to God for that I am Created by him how much more do I owe him for that he hath Redeemed me and in such a manner For I was not so easily Redeemed as I was at first Created At my Creation it was said of me as well as of all other things
He said the word and they were made To Create me cost him but one word But he who made me by speaking and that only once when he redeemed me spoke much he wrought wonders and suffer'd much hardship and many indignities In the first work he gave me my self or what I am in the second he gave himself and giving himself for me he restored me to my self What return shall or can I make to God for himself I owe my self entirely to him in acknowledgment for my Creation and what remains for me to give for my Redemption and although I could repay my self a thousand times what am I in comparison to my Lord ARTICLE V. Of the particular Motives of the love of God drawn from the Blessed Sacrament IT should seem that love should not be able to advance further then that of our Lord hath done and that the highest pitch to which it could possibly arrive were to dye for us according to those words of our Lord. Jo. 15.13 Greater love then this no man hath that he give up his Life for his Friend But the same wisdom which taught this truth hath given this distinction to our hand no pure man hath greater love human love reacheth no further but the love of God made man is an exception to this generall rule the divine love knows no bounds it passeth beyond the bounds of death and as it is ingenious inventive and omnipotent it finds out innumerable ways to make its grandure and its excess appear The Charity of Jesus Christ was not content to lay down his life for us men and our Salvation to reconcile us to God by his death even then when we were his enemies according to the remark of St. Paul Rom. 5.10 or as St. Bernard in the place above-cited notes to love us first tantus tantum gratis tantillos tales He being so great to love so much gratis such and so contemptible Persons That is with such an excess of love and such an abasement of his greatness to love to an extremity even such pitifull wretched creatures replenished with Sins all sorts of miseries and all this gratis that is without any interest of his side but meerly upon the consideration of our good This divine love hath found out means how he may always be with us and never depart from those whom he hath loved so far as to dy for them he hath found out an invention to remain with us and yet be absent from us and having withdrawn from us his visible presence he hath nevertheless found out a way how still we may enjoy him He hath given us his flesh for meat and his blood for drink he hath shut them up under the figure of Bread Wine that we might more commodiously receive them and by means of this divine invention he enters into and takes possession of us he Sanctifies our Soul and Body he enlivens us with his grace he cures our interiour maladies he strengthens our weakness in a word He dwells in us and we in him as he him self affirms Jo. 6.57 O Skillfull and ingenious love O admirable invention proper to God alone Here we may affirm with truth what the Prophet Isay said ch 45.15 vere tu es Deus absconditus Deus Israel In this Sacrament of the Eucharist God is truly hidden because he hath herein invented a way to conceal the grandure of his Majesty that so we might more easily approach unto him and it is in this holy Sacrament that we may say with David Ps 30.20 O my God! how great without number are the effects of thy goodness which thou reservest for the benefit of those who hear thee and hast made them appear in the sight of the whole world towards all those who place their hopes in thee What return can we make to God for so extraordinary and so incomprehensible a good For if we do not know how sufficiently to acknowledg the benefit of our creation much less are we able to make any retutn for that of our redemption how then can we testify our gratitude for this third effect and the utmost excess of the divine goodness wherein he not only gives himself for us but bestows himself upon us that we may truly enjoy take possession of him Quid Deo retribuam pro se nam etsi millies me dedero quid sum ego ad Dominum meum What shall I return to God saith St. Bernard in the place above-cited Art. 4. in exchange for himself altho ' I should give my self to him a thousand times what am I when put in ballance with my God True it is Theotime we cannot return to God any thing worthy of him in acknowledgment of the rich present which he hath made us of himself Yet at least we may afford him our love and affection as far as we are able saying with St. Bernard ibid. I will love thee O my God my helper for the offering thou hast made me of thy self and that to the utmost of my power It is true it can never equal thy deserts Yet it shall not be inferiour to the power with which thy holy grace shall enable me Me Deus immenso postquam dilexit amore Quis modus atque mei finis Amoris erit ARTICLE VI. The practice of the Acts of Charity before Communion WHen we expect a person whom we most dearly love we do three things 1. We earnestly desire his coming 2. We take all possible care to have all things in readiness for his kind reception as Lodging Entertainment Banquets and Presents 3. We set forth upon our way to meet him And it is but just that you perform these things in respect of Jesus Christ whom you expect 1. Wish from your heart for his dear presence making use of those words of David Psal 41. As the Hart parched up with drought longeth after the fountains of Waters so doth my Soul after thee O Lord. O my God my Soul sighs after thee and languisheth away with desires to enjoy thee Veni Domine noli tardare relaxa facinora servo tuo Come O my Lord make haste release and pardon me once more my Sins and make me worthy of the favour which thou art about to bestow upon me 2. Make all things ready to receive him and altho' your Soul be already disposed by Confession see however and examen again whether there remain not yet something that may be displeasing in the Eyes of Jesus Christ some secret Sin some irregular affections as a lye an aversion against your Neighbour or any sinfull or dangerous affection Leave not the least of all these things in your heart but root them out by Contrition and by a fixt and steady resolution to amend your life Make ready the entertainments which you intend to give him as soon as you have received him Those which are most gratefull to him are the Acts of Faith Hope and Charity these also are
to be faithfull to thee and to be all thine to serve thee with Body and Soul to correct the evil inclinations of them both to fight against my self and deny my self my wonted pleasures my Delights my Passions my Concupiscence my Anger my Ambition my own will and lastly all whatsoever may offend thee O my God. A Prayer to Jesus Christ DOmine Deus 1. Par. 29.18 Custodi in aeternum hanc voluntatem O my Saviour conserve in my Soul this holy resolution which thou hast given me and grant me grace to put it faithfully in execution I can do nothing of my self and without thy assistance I beg it of thee with all my heart that I may conquer all tho' almost innumerable difficulties which occurr in the way of my Salvation Regard me with the eyes of thy Mercy strengthen me daily with thy Grace Psal 24.16 Respice in me miserere mei quia unicus pauper sum ego Tribulationes cordis mei multiplicatae sunt de necessitatibus meis erue me When you have finished all these acts you may proceed and make use of the Prayers in your Manuall after Communion or other vooal Prayers according as your Devotion shall dictate to you And I say the same also of the Prayers which the same Manuals have as a preparation to Communion But all this is to be understood provided still that you apply your chief endeavours to the practise of the acts of some one or more of the precedent Virtues ARTICLE VII Advices concerning the precedent practices of Faith Hope and Charity THese are some prescriptions to be be observed concerning the practice which we have given you of these three Virtues in order to Communion The First is that it is not necessary to employ them all equally every time we Communinicate because they may be too long But it is enough that we insist particularly upon the practice of some one of the three and to direct the principall fruit of the Commmunion to that End. Thus you may choose for one Communion the practice of Faith for the next that of Hope and Charity for the third Secondly That you may reap the benefit of any of these Virtues you must prepare your self beforehand by reading the practices which we have given thereof you shall read then that which you intend to practice and take notice of the acts and endeavour to understand them well and make them your own Thirdly When the time of Communion shall be at hand you shall practice these acts as you reade them here But remember that your heart go along with your words that is to say that you reade them with attention and perform them with heart and mind To this end you must read them softly repeat and ruminate upon them within your self insisting upon those which move you most They are for the most part words taken out of Holy writ which I collected on purpose that you may learn them with more ease and that they may more efficaciously move you being the very words of the Holy Ghost In fine to conclude and reap the benefit of the practice of these three Virtues employ some part of the day of your Communion in pondering upon what you have practiced in the morning to this end reade the whole Chapter which concerns that Virtue and let it be the Spirituall Lesson for the day of your Communion ARTICLE VIII Another Advice of Prayer to the Blessed Virgin before and after Communion THis is what I recommend unto you most earnestly Dear Theotime that you do not forget the prayer to the Blessed Virgin before and after Communion Before Communion that you may obtain by her intercession the grace to Communicate worthyly conceiving as she did the Son of God in your heart before you receive him in your body as St. Ambrose affirm'd of her Prius concepit mente quam corpore And that you may be replenish'd with those holy dispositions whereby she merited to receive the Son of God himself into her womb and particularly with those of Purity and Humility which were the two virtues by which according to St. Bernard she attracted to her the Son of God She pleased him by her Virginity and conceived him by her Humility Virginitate placuit humilitate concepit For this reason you shall address your self unto her in this or some such like manner A Prayer to the Blessed Virgin before Communion O Blessed Virgin most worthy mother of God behold me upon the point of receiving him the very same person whom thou didst conceive in thy chast bowells and ready to partake of the adorable body and blood which he received from thee It concerns thee that he be received with all the respect and honour he deserves and that he be not unworthyly treated by those upon whom he bestows himself with so much love This is the cause why I address my self unto thee that thou wouldest vouchsafe to obtain of him in my behalf all the blessings which I stand in need of in this Communion Obtain of him that he take possession of my heart by love before he enter into my body by the Sacrament And that loving him I may be worthy to receive him Beg and by thy powerfull intercession obtain of him these dispositions for me these two important virtues which assured him unto thee and render'd thee deservedly his worthy mother I mean Purity and Humility That he find nothing in me which may tast either of Impurity or Pride And for this reason it is that I detest from my heart these two Sins which infinitely displease both him thee And I am fully resolv'd to use all my endeavours that I may perfectly acquire these two excellent virtues by which I heartily desire to please him and to imitate thee begging for this end his grace by thy holy intercession which I implore with all my heart After Communion YOu shall pray to her that by her intercession you may obtain grace to conserve her Son Jesus Christ whom you have corporally received also Spiritually in your Soul as she her self after she had conceived brought him into the world preserved him always in her heart by means of that love which kept her Soul continually fixed upon her dearly beloved Son a love whereby she enjoy'd a greater happiness then she did by being chosen the Mother of God according to the sentiment of a Father of the Church It is true says Venerable Bede in Luc. the Mother of God was truly happy upon this account that she became his Mother in the Incarnation and conceived him in her body but questionless she was much more happy for that she conserved him perpetually in her heart by love as she always did Form in your understanding a right conceit of this happiness and pray to the Blessed Virgin that she will obtain it for you for ever To this end direct the following prayer to her A Prayer to the Blessed Virgin after Communion IT is just O Blessed