358 Exercises for Each Month.
Prayer to Mary,
And thou, O Mary, my Mother, and my hope after Jesus, obtain for me a firm confidence, first in the merits of Jesus, thy Son, and then in the help of thy prayers — prayers which are all- powerful with God.
MARCH.— LOVE OF GOD.
To obtain the great treasure of love of Jesus Christ we must : 1. Desire it ardently ; 2. Ask often for it; 3. Make room for it by chasing all inordinate affections from our hearts ; 4. Make frequent acts of love ; 5. Meditate assiduously on the Passion of Jesus Christ. Charity is the queen of all virtues ; wherever she reigns she draws all other virtues along with her, as it were, in her train.
Prayer to Jesus Christ to obtain His Holy Love. My crucified Love, my dear Jesus! I believe in Thee, and confess Thee to be the true Son of God and my Saviour. I adore Thee from the abyss of my own nothingness, and I thank Thee for the death Thou didst suffer for me that I might obtain the life of divine grace. My beloved Redeemer, to Thee I owe all my salvation. Through Thee I have hitherto escaped hell ; through Thee have I received the pardon of my sins. But I am so ungrateful that, instead of loving Thee, I have repeated my offences against Thee. I deserve to be condemned, so as not to be able to love Thee any more: but no, my Jesus, punish me in any other way, but not in this. If I have not loved Thee in time past, I love Thee now ; and I desire nothing but to love Thee with all my heart. But without Thy help I can do nothing. Since Thou dost command me to love Thee, give me also the strength to fulfil this Thy sweet and loving precept. Thou hast promised to grant all that we ask of Thee: "You shall ask whatever you will, and it shall be done unto you" (John 15, 7). Confiding, then, in this promise, my
