renounce all my pleasures to please Thee, my Redeemer, Who dost deserve to be pleased at all costs. O Sovereign Good! I esteem Thee and love Thee above every good; make me love Thee with all my heart, and always implore Thy love. I have hitherto offended Thee, and have not loved Thee, because I have not sought Thy love. I now beg of Thee this love, and the grace always to seek it. Oh, grant my prayer by the merits of Thy Passion. O Mary, my Mother! thou art always prepared to hear the prayer of him that calls upon thee. Thou lovest him that loveth thee. I love thee, my Queen; obtain for me the grace to love God, and I ask nothing more of thee.
Recite the Steps of Our Saviour's Childhood, page 377.
May 25th.
TO JESUS IN POVERTY.
O blessed straw, fairer than roses or lilies! what favored land produced you? Oh, what an enviable lot is yours, to serve as a bed for the King of heaven! But, alas! you are cold for Jesus; but you are fire and flame for us. since you supply us with a flame of love which rivers of water shall never quench.
MY Jesus, Thou art the Son of the Lord of heaven and earth, and yet Thou liest in this cold grotto without other cradle than a manger, with nothing but straw for Thy bed, and with only miserable rags to cover Thee. The angels stand round Thee, and sing Thy praises, but they do not relieve Thy poverty. My dear Redeemer, the poorer Thou art the more lovable Thou dost render Thyself in our eyes, because Thou hast embraced so great a poverty for the very end of making us love Thee more. If Thou hadst been born in a palace, if Thou hadst had a cradle of gold, if Thou hadst been assisted by the first princes of the earth, Thou wouldst have acquired more respect from men but less love; but this stable where Thou dost sleep, these miserable
