that rests upon the bosom of its mother does not speak, save with its loving looks and its apparent delight while reposing in her maternal arms.
The essential point of meditation consists in the following things:
1. To awaken the affections. — We ought therefore to humble ourselves with heartfelt sincerity, to animate our faith and our hope, and,' above all, to make acts of contrition, and of love of God, of conformity to his holy will, and to offer ourselves up entirely to him. We should repeat the same affections over and over again, especially those to which we feel the most inclined.
2. We must make petitions. — ft is in meditation that God shows us our misery, and how much we need his grace to conquer our evil inclinations. For this reason the time of meditation is the fittest time for prayer. God ordinarily gives his grace, and especially the grace of perseverance, to those who pray.
3. We must make good resolutions. — After having discovered by meditation what we have to do on our part in order to live in conformity with the holy will of God, and having asked his assistance, it still remains for us to put in practice what we have thus seen to be necessary, otherwise our meditation will be fruitless. We must therefore make a serious resolve to avoid such or such a fault, to do this or that good work the very first occasion, [t is necessary also, from time to time during the day, to recall the good resolution we have taken for fear lest, when the occasion arrives, it should be already forgotten. After the good resolution comes the end of the meditation. Then we must thank God for the holy inspirations which he has given us, and beseech him, for the love of Jesus and of Mary, to help us to carry
