rags that cover Thee, this straw that serves Thee as Thy bed, this manger that is Thy only cradle — oh, how do they attract our souls to love Thee! " The viler He was for me," says St. Bernard, "the dearer He is to me." Thou hast made Thyself poor to enrich us with Thy riches; that is, with grace and glory. Ah, my Jesus! this Thy poverty has induced many saints to leave all — riches, honors, and kingdoms — in order to become poor with Thee. Oh, detach me also, my Saviour, from all affection to worldly goods, so that I may be made worthy to acquire Thy holy love, and thus to possess Thee, Who art the Infinite Good. With St. Ignatius of Loyola I will say to Thee: " Give me Thy love and Thy grace, and I shall have all the riches I crave." I wish for nothing more; Thou alone art sufficient for me, my Jesus, my Life, my All. O my Mother Mary! do thou obtain for me the grace that I may always love Jesus, and that I may always be loved by Him.
Recite the Steps of Our Saviour's Childhood, page 377.
June 25th.
TO JESUS INFINITELY PURE.
All other infants are born in original sin; but Jesus was born " holy, innocent, unpolluted." "My beloved is white and ruddy, chosen out of thousands" (Cant. v. 10). In this Infant only did the Eternal Father find His delight, because in Him alone did He rind no fault.
O MY innocent Saviour, Mirror without spot, Love of the Eternal Father, chastisements and maledictions did not belong to Thee, but to me, a miserable sinner; but Thou wouldst show to the world the excess of Thy love by sacrificing Thy life in order to obtain for us pardon and salvation, and thus by Thy sufferings pay the penalties which we had incurred by our sins. May all creatures bless and praise Thy mercy and Thy infinite bounty! I thank Thee on behalf of all men, but especially for myself; because as I have offended Thee more than
