ever so great — infinite if you will — yet as long as life lasts there is room for hope. By mortal sin we justly fall under the slavery of the devil, but not irredeemably. It is never too late to appeal to divine mercy to have patience; the case is never so hopeless but what, relying on the infinite merits of Our Redeemer, we can confidently promise God's justice to pay Him all. One thing, and one only, is necessary; that, as we fell by pride so we rise by humbly falling, supplicants, at God's feet, for: "He that exalteth himself shall be humbled, and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted."
"Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us." " Mercy," says the poet, " is an attribute of God Himself," most difficult for man to imitate, and hence most often emphasized in God's dealings with man. Says the Psalmist: " If Thou wilt observe iniquities, O Lord, Lord, who will endure them?" Now do we, as creatures, properly reflect this attribute of the Creator? Alas! what a rare virtue among us is magnanimity. For lack of mercy in our hearts, too often the very recitation of the Lord's Prayer becomes a curse on our heads. We beg and receive forgiveness from our King, and going out we harden our hearts against the prayer of our fellow-servant and refuse to forgive. We ask for pardon in proportion as we are willing to pardon, and were God to take us at our word, were He to interpret our prayer as it is interpreted in our daily lives, forgiveness of injuries were as rare in heaven as it is on earth. But if during our lives
