The Dove of The Tabernacle

CHAPTER XIV.

Holy Habit of the Presence of God, and Aspirations or Ejaculatory Prayer to the Blessed Sacrament.

SECTION I.

Presence of God.

JESUS is God. We belong wholly to Him. He created and redeemed us. He preserves us every moment of our existence. Our souls and bodies are His. Every moment of our lives is His. For Him we must live, for Him we must die. The glory of God is the beginning and end of our creation. Though God's own intrinsic glory is infinite, still He is jealous of the little we can give Him. No rival shall dare dispute His right. We, our souls and bodies, must serve Him. Such is the command of God. "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul and with thy strength, and with all thy mind." Deut. vi. 5.

What could be more comprehensive? Our hearts with all their affections, our souls with all their faculties, our bodies with all their senses, belong to God: that is, Almighty God expects and demands, as He has a right to, all the service of our souls and bodies every moment of our lives. To fulfil this great and first precept God in His mercy gives us abundant graces. The constant remembrance of His divine presence is, perhaps, one of the greatest means to serve Him faithfully, and to arrive even in a short time at perfection. This we learn from the sacred Scripture and the writings of the saints. God himself said to Abraham, "Walk before Me, and be you perfect." Gen. xvii. 1. To walk before God is to remember His presence. The Royal Prophet not only praised God seven times a day, but says, "I had always our Lord present before my eyes, because I know that He is always at my right hand, to hinder anything from troubling me." Ps. xv. 8. The holy Tobias gave this parting advice to his son: "All the days of thy life have God in thy mind." Tob. iv. 6.

The saints extol the holy practice of the presence of God. St. Bonaventure says, "That, to employ ourselves continually in the exercise of the presence of God, is to begin in this life to enjoy the felicity of the blessed in the next." SS. Teresa, Liguori, and others call it a "short and easy road to perfection." "In a word," adds St. Liguori, "by this exercise of the presence of God, the saints have succeeded in acquiring great treasures of merits." Sp. of Christ.

God sees us! The great truth, God sees us, is the terror of the wicked and consolation of the just. The wicked man, to indulge his sinful passions, may say in the folly of his heart, I will seek darkness, I will hide in lonely places; no body shall see me. Ah! God sees you. His eye is upon you. Midnight and midday are both the same to his allseeing eye. He is equally present in the depth of the forest and the depth of the ocean. How beautifully the Psalmist expresses it: "If I ascend to heaven, You are there; if I descend to hell, You are present If I take my wings early in the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there also shall Your hand hold me." Ps. cxx viii. 8. "The spirit of our Lord fills the whole earth." Wis. i. 7. "Do not I fill the heavens and the earth, saith the Lord." Jer. xxiii. 24. St. Paul is not less sublime. "God," he says, "is not far from any of us, in Him we live, move, and have our being." Acts xvii. 27. No words could be more expressive. In God we exist, walk, breathe, think, and live. He is everywhere within us and around us. More really than the sponge in the midst of the sea is surrounded and filled with water, does God fill and penetrate our souls and bodies. God is present in our souls, and equally present in the most remote fixed star, countless millions of miles distant. Multiply that distance by itself, and there is God also present. Let the human mind expand its thoughts till lost in space, there also is the eye of God. In a word, all created space is but a point in the infinite immensity of God! And still He loves us, and we can love nay, possess God.

God sees us! Truth terrible to the wicked. God counts not only their sinful acts and words, but notes down every evil thought in the book of life and death. God sees us. Consolation to the just. Not only does he reckon our good deeds, but he remembers every holy thought, to reward it with an eternal weight of glory! These holy thoughts we can, by the grace of God, conceive and multiply; and each is written by the hand of God in the book of life.

The first great effect of the habit of the presence of God is to preserve the soul from sin. Who would dare commit sin under the eye of a father & mother? But how infinitely more withering is the eye of God upon the sinner? To remember God, and to commit sin, is impossible. We sin because we forget God's presence. "He has not God before his eyes," says the Royal Prophet, "and therefore he is defiled with all sorts of crimes." Ps. ix. 26. St. Jerome says: "The remembrance of God banishes all sorts of sins" (Liber de Fide Be); and adds, that "when we find ourselves tempted to commit any sin, if we should think that God beholds us, and that he is present with us, we should never consent to anything displeasing to him." St. Teresa concludes: "Every evil happens to us because we do not reflect that God is present with us, but imagine He is at a distance." The remembrance of the presence, of God gave courage to the chaste Susanna to resist the temptations and threats of the elders. "It is better for me," said she, "to fall into your hands without doing it, than to sin in the sight of the Lord." Dan. xiii. 23. The certainty and remembrance that God, who "can cast our bodies and souls into hell," sees our acts, bears our words, knows our most secret thoughts, cannot but prevent us from doing, speaking, or thinking evil before his eyes.

The second great effect of the presence of God is courage to advance in virtue. A soldier under the eye of his captain rushes to death or victory. We are soldiers of Christ. His eye is upon us. He sees our struggles. He knows our temptations. He looks with complacency upon us fighting the battles of the Lord. He will reward even a good desire. What a powerful motive to fight against sin, to conquer temptations, to practice secret virtue! "I remembered God," says King David, "and was delighted" (Ps. lxxvi. 4); delighted to please him for his own sake. The presence of God is best kept up in the soul by doing all things solely to please him. This leads us to our next section purity of intention.

SECTION II.

Purity of Intention.

We ought to be holy. Jesus has given us the means. He has given us Himself so many ways. The more pious we become, the more we shall love Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. The soul He wishes to sanctify He draws to the foot of the altar; and purity of intention is a great help to love Jesus in the sacrament of His love.

We belong wholly to God. Our days and nights, our years and lives, all the services of our souls and bodies, are His by right and by precept. He has commanded, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind." Have we kept this precept? Examine your lives. First, subtract from your lives the days, perhaps years, spent in mortal sin. These years are evil and not for God. Secondly, take away all the years given to the world; all the actions, no matter how good in themselves, done through human motives. For these there will be no reward on the day of judgment. How much remains for God? How many years, nay, days, given to the Almighty? The servant in the gospel is condemned, not because he squandered, but because he did not profit by his master's talents. This bad Christian has done both: not only he has not profited by his life, but he has squandered in sin the talents of his years given him by God to purchase heaven. Purity of intention will give to the Almighty what belongs to Him our lives.

The intention is the soul of our acts. God looks not to the hand or arm, but to the will and heart. "Man seeth those things that appear, but the Lord beholdeth the heart." I. Kings xvi. The intention stamps the value of the act, whether for good or evil. "If the eye be evil," says our blessed Redeemer, "the whole body will be darksome " (Matt vi. 23): that is, if the intention be bad, the whole action will be sinful in the sight of God. On the other hand, our Savior added: "If thy eye be single, thy whole body will be lightsome" (Matt vi. 22): that is, if the intention be holy, the action, in itself good, will be pleasing in the sight of the Almighty. St. Augustine says: "God attends not so much to what man does, as to the motives of his acts." "The good which you will do," continues St. Ambrose, "shall be proportioned to the purity of intention with which you do it for the divine glory."

What intention, then, ought to animate our acts? St. Paul tells us: "Whether you eat or drink, or whatsoever else you do, do all to the glory of God." l Cor. x. 31. And again: "Whatever you do in word or work, do all for the glory of God." Hence, to do all our actions for the greater glory of God, solely to please Him and fulfil His blessed will, is the most holy and perfect intention on earth, or even in heaven above. The gospel says of Jesus Christ: "He did all things well" (Mark vii. 37, I), "and our Savior Himself so often tells us for our instruction, the intention with which He performed His actions. The will, the glory of His eternal Father, was an end of all his acts." I do always the things that please Him. John viii. 29. "I seek not My own will, but the will of Him that sent Me." John v. 30. And again: "My food is to do the will of Him that sent me."John iv. 32. Hence, St. Basil concludes: "The whole conduct of a Christian proposes to itself only one end, which is the glory of God."

There is no doubt but many, even good Christians, lose the greater part of their lives, and the reward of many good acts, for want of a proper intention. It is certain that no action, no matter how good in itself, is meritorious of glory in the sight of God, except it be animated by charity and directed by a supernatural motive. St. Paul says: "If I should distribute all my goods to feed the poor, and if I should deliver my body to be burned, and have not charity" that is, except I do it for God "it profiteth me nothing." Cor. xiii. 31. On the other hand, the widow's mite and cup of cold water, given for God, will be rewarded in the kingdom of heaven. It is therefore evident that a supernatural motive, a pure intention in all our acts is of the highest importance for our salvation.

How reduce it to practice? By the grace of God, nothing is more easy. When our eyes open in the morning, let the first object they see be God, and immediately offer to His greater glory all the thoughts, words, and actions of the day; we may express it in this form: "My good God, I offer to Thy greater glory all the thoughts, words, and actions of this day." What a holy beginning of the day! We go to our daily avocations, each to the duties of his state in life one to the plough, another to the meadow, one to his shop, another to his desk; and we begin each action by offering it to God. Thus, whether we read or write, walk or talk, labor in the field, or work in the house, eat or drink, even when we go to sleep, we do all to the glory of God. Each action is sanctified by this supernatural motive or intention, and it is holy; for in thus fulfilling with a pure intention the duties of our state in life no matter what they be we are doing the will of God, than which nothing can be more holy. "The will of God," says St. Paul, "is your sanctification." Thess. iv. 3. "Whosoever does the will of My Father," says our blessed Savior, "he is My brother, My sister, and My mother."Mat. xii. 50. Each action of the twentyfour hours of the day is a holy prayer, and thus we fulfil the precept of Jesus Christ, who says, "We ought always to pray, and not to faint" (Luke xviii. 1); and of St. Paul, who says, "Pray always; pray without ceasing." Thess. v. 17.

A year spent in this manner is a long time. Of the saints who thus lived, though they died young, like SS. Aloysius, Stanislaus, Berchmans, and many others, the Holy Ghost says, that they have thus lived entire all their days, and they died full of days. And, as the sacred Scripture says of the just man, that "being made perfect in a short space, they filled a longtime." "For venerable old age is not that of longtime, nor counted by the number of years, but the understanding of a man is gray hairs, and a spotless life is old age." Wis. iv. 8, 9, 13. That "in the short time they lived they fulfilled a great space or length of time." Wis. iv. 13. We conclude this section with St. Mary Magdalene de Pazzis, who says, that "a person who performs all his actions with the pure intention of the glory of God, goes straight to heaven, without passing through the fires of purgatory." May Jesus for His greater glory give us purity of intention!

SECTION III.

Union with Jesus.

The habit of offering all our actions to the greater glory of God, of performing them solely to please Him and doing His blessed will, is the first step on the road that leads straight to God. This is what Father Faber calls "The devotion of saying Mass with all the actions of the day."

It is true when the soul, is dazzled in contemplating the transcendent holiness of God, and confounded at her own nothingness, she becomes ashamed, so to speak, to offer to Him her worthless actions. But let her be comforted; for she can offer to God His own divine attributes and perfections. She can rejoice in His own infinite glory, sanctity and power. She can offer to Him, not only the praises of holy souls on earth, all the love of the saints, the angels, and Mary in bliss, but, infinitely beyond all, she can offer to Him all the glory, homage, and praise that Jesus Christ gave Him on earth, now gives Him, and will give Him for all eternity in heaven. Such are the riches of our poverty.

And then there is "Union with Jesus." We said a few words in a former chapter on "Union with Jesus on the altar." At every hour, nay every moment of the day and night, the "clean oblation" is offered, the Divine Lamb is immolated in some part of the world. At every moment, and sometimes on a hundred altars simultaneously, the Sacrifice of Calvary is renewed and continued, to adore and worship the Almighty for all mankind, to thank Him for His favors, to atone for sin, to supplicate salvation for the world, to obtain hope for the despairing, strength for the relapsing, pardon for the repenting, heaven for the dying. What a holy habit to unite ourselves and all our actions with Jesus thus unceasingly immolated! This is "Union with Jesus on the Altar," but the subject of this section is "Union with Jesus in the Flesh."

We belong to Jesus. It is our glory and privilege. Jesus, too, in a sense, belongs to us. He delivered Himself for us. His blood redeemed us. He pleads for us in heaven. His life in the flesh is ours. Union with Jesus will sanctify our ordinary actions of the day. Our best actions are imperfect and utterly worthless in the presence of infinite sanctity; but when united with the actions of Jesus Christ, they become precious in the sight of God.

Jesus in the flesh ate and drank, prayed and fasted, toiled and slept, suffered and died. Each action was of infinite value, being the action of the ManGod. We can unite our actions with those of our blessed Lord, who will sanctify them; and thus united to Him and sanctified by Him, we may with humble confidence offer them to His eternal Father, who will accept and bless them through love and reverence for His only begotten Son, "in whom He is well pleased." Rodriguez tells us, that God revealed to St. Mechtildis that it was most pleasing to Him to offer Him all our actions in union with those of Jesus Christ. St. Teresa also says, that "every one will gain the desired end of his prayers more efficaciously by offering his actions to the Eternal Father in union with the merits of Jesus Christ." SS. Gertrude and Mary Magdalene of Pazzi tell us that Jesus Christ Himself taught them the value of this holy practice.

Jesus Christ Himself says in the Gospel (John xiv. 13), "Whatsoever you shall ask the Father in My name He shall grant you, that the Father may be glorified in the Son," and St. Paul says that God made us acceptable through His beloved Son, in whom He is well pleased. Our actions, then, will be precious in the eyes of God, when united with the infinite actions of Jesus, when presented by Jesus, who is so pleasing to the Eternal Father, and who, in presenting them, is our "mediator," our "advocate," and our "brother." "Jesus Christ," says St. Paul, "is not ashamed to call us His brethren."Heb. ii. 12.

But to come to the practice. Nothing is more easy. Nothing is more easy than to say in the morning, "My good God, I offer to Thy greater glory all the thoughts, words, and actions of this day, in union with those of Jesus Christ." Thus the day begins with the sweet names of God and Jesus! Time flies, hours roll by, action succeeds action, each is sanctified by the same holy union with Jesus. Moreover, we begin each action of the day by offering it to God in union with Jesus. We may express it thus, "I offer this action to God in union with Jesus." A glance, a motion of the will towards God, is sufficient to complete this oblation. The oblation is a perfect work, pleasing to God, dear to Jesus, full of merit for ourselves. One tear, any one act of Jesus, would be sufficient to redeem the whole world. Happy then the Christian who gives his days and his nights, his months and his years, his life and his death, to the glory of God, in union with the life and death of Jesus Christ. May God above grant us this happiness.

SECTION IV.

Aspirations or Ejaculatory Prayer to the Blessed Sacrament.

We have seen what a great help to love Jesus is the remembrance of the presence of God. The great truth, let us repeat it, that God sees us everywhere is the terror of the wicked. How expressive the words of St. Augustine, who says, "When I attentively consider, O Lord, that You have Your eyes continually fixed upon me, and that night and day You keep a continual watch over me, with so great care as if neither in heaven nor on earth You had any other creature to govern besides myself, when I think that You behold all my actions, that You penetrate my most sacred and hidden thoughts, and that all my desires are exposed to Your view, I find myself filled with confusion." Confessions. If the saint feared the eye of God, what shall the sinner do? Can the sinner indulge in guilt under the withering eye of God, who could that instant cast him body and soul into hellfire?

In heaven the blessed enjoy the beatific vision, seeing God face to face and to see Him is to love and enjoy Him! On earth the just by the eyes of faith see God, in prayer they converse with Him, in love they enjoy Him. Now the perpetual presence of God is best kept up in the soul by short prayers or ejaculations.

The saints tell us that the frequent use of aspirations is the practice of the presence of God, and a short and easy road to perfection. St. Francis of Sales says that "the great fabric of devotion leans upon this exercise, that it can supply the defects of all other prayers, and that all other prayers cannot supply the defect of it." Another saint calls these aspirations "inflamed arrows which pierce the heavens." Aspirations have also this great advantage: they do not, like long prayers, fatigue the mind; we can make them in all places and at all times, and unobserved by those who sit or work by our side; we can multiply them in thousands. God sees each holy motion of the heart, God counts and will reward these holy heavings of the soul towards heaven.

How Often ought we Remember God?

St Paul, as we before remarked, says, "Pray always; pray without ceasing:" and the Royal Psalmist says, "I had always our Lord present before my eyes;" and again, "Seek our Lord and be confirmed; seek His face continually."Ps. civ. 4: That is, at all times and in all places we ought to endeavor to keep God before our eyes. St. Bernard says, "As there is not a moment in which we do not enjoy the benefit's of God, so there is not a moment in which we should not remember God and prove our gratitude." St. Gregory concludes, "We ought not to draw breath so often as we should remember God."Orat. de Cura Paup. It is recorded in the life of Gregory Lopez, that for three whole years he made in his heart at every respiration this sweet ejaculation: "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Wonderful is God in his saints. Jesus give us the spirit of the saints."

God in His infinite goodness, has made this practice easy for all. Than it, the saints have nothing higher or holier, and still it is at the door, within the reach and capacity of the poor, simple, and uneducated. It is enough to know "Christ and Him crucified." Let us see the practice begin the day and each action by offering it to the "greater glory of God in union with the actions of Jesus." We are employed at the duties of our state in life. One labors in the field, another goes to his shop another at his desk; one goes on a journey, another goes to work; the hands are engaged, but the heart is ever free to think of God. Amid the most distracting occupations, amid the noise and turmoil of a busy world, we can preserve solitude in our souls, in the secret closets of our hearts alone with God, we can adore and love Him. How refreshing in fatigue to think of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, to invite Him into our goals, and entertain Him with holy affections. Jesus on the altar ever thinks of us; our hearts ought ever be with Him in the tabernacle. Jesus is ever loving us, His bountiful hand is ever diffusing favors upon us; we ought ever love Him, ever thank Him. Amid our occupations, when our hands are engaged, what is more easy, than to turn our hearts to Him, and say, "Jesus, my God, I love Thee. My Jesus, I wish to love Thee as Thou dost deserve. My God, I offer Thee the love of earth and heaven." Cant. ii. 16. "What have I in heaven, and besides Thee what do I desire upon earth? Thou art the God of my heart, and the God that is my portion forever." Ps. lxxii. 2.5.

Then we may thank God. St. Augustine says there is no prayer more beautiful than "Thanks be to God." If there be one more beautiful, it is the prayer of our forefathers, a prayer which sounds so sweetly in our native Celtic tongue, a prayer which expresses the warm gratitude of the Irish heart: it is "Millions of praises unto God!" May we love that prayer and often repeat it from our heart.

At another time we can elevate our hearts to God by acts of conformity to the divine will "Let not my will O Lord, but Thine be done." "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." "Teach me to do Thy will." Ps. cvii. 2. "What, O Lord, wilt thou have me to do?" Acts ix. 6. In crosses and disappointments, in sorrows and trials, in sickness and death, let us say with holy Job, "The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away. As it hath pleased the Lord, so it is done; blessed be the name of the Lord." Job i. 21.

At another time we turn and unite ourselves to God by fervent acts of petition. We cannot repeat too often the beautiful aspiration which St. Vincent de Paul ever had in his mouth: "Incline unto my aid, O God; O Lord, make haste to help me." Ps. lxxix. 1. We can whisper to heaven fervent acts of sorrow for our sins. "God be merciful to me a sinner."

"The sins of my youth and my ignorance remember not, O Lord."

Turn away Thy face from my sins, and blot out my iniquities." Ps. 1. 10. I am sorry for my sins because they displease Thy infinite goodness. Would that I could turn all my past sins into acts of divine love! I will sin no more.

In our secret hearts we can beg of God the grace never more to offend Him, and the grace of final perseverance. My God, grant, me grace to keep Thy commandments; grant me grace never more to offend Thee. My God, I would rather a thousand deaths than offend Thee by one mortal sin. Dear Lord! grant me the grace of final perseverance, a happy death, and a favorable judgment. May I possess Thyself in paradise.

We work at our daily labor let not Jesus in the blessed Sacrament be forgotten: At each instant the divine Lamb is immolated for us; let us, at least, remember Him. Amid our occupations we can preserve in our hearts a little cell, a little tabernacle, for the Holy of holies. Jesus is our sacrifice, Jesus is our sacrament; let us thank Him for both. I thank Thee, my Jesus, for all the Masses that ever have been celebrated. I thank Thee for all the graces I have received at Thy altar. Infinite praise to Thee for having fed my soul so often with Thy adorable body and blood. I wish to remain always before Thy tabernacle, and to offer to Thee, at every moment, the praises and love of men and angels. My Jesus, pardon all my irreverences towards Thee in the Blessed Eucharist. Grant me love for the adorable sacrifice of the Mass, love for the bread of angels, desire and love to visit Thee daily. Come into my heart, dear Lord, may I always receive Thee worthily. On my deathbed be my viaticum, in heaven be my reward The holy soul never tires repeating the following beautiful ejaculations: "Praised and blessed at every moment be the most holy and divine sacrament." "Jesus, meek and humble of heart, make my heart like to Thy heart." "My Jesus, mercy." "May the Sacred Heart of Jesus be loved everywhere." "Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us."

We only have been suggesting a few aspirations, or rather the order of aspirations, such as aspirations of love, of thanksgiving, and of petition. But the pious soul may be left free to the influence of divine grace. The spirit of God sweetly and silently "breathes where He wills," speaks to the heart and suggests new thoughts and prayers known only to God, and to be known to men only on the day of judgment. Neither learning nor talent is required, only a loving and humble heart. How often have we not witnessed it! How often have we not heard the poor uneducated, when in sorrow or pain, but above all when dying, express in their own simple but telling language of the heart, the holiest thoughts, and give vent to the ardent love of their souls in aspirations of the highest and most supernatural order? Were they not whispered from heaven? Yes, for from the countenance, though agonized with pain, there seemed already to beam forth a ray of heaven's glory.

Let us repeat how happy, how holy the day, the night thus spent in close union with God! Each work is influenced by divine grace, and directed by supernatural motives. God is never absent from the mind. In this attention of the mind to God there is no strain, no violence. As matter naturally gravitates towards the center, so our souls naturally incline to, and lean upon, God, their Center and Author. Whilst the hands work the heart prays. God is never forgotten: amid the most distracting occupations, peace and calm reign in the soul. As the waves of the sea way beat upon the rock whilst it remains steadfast with the sunshine of heaven glittering on its summit, so the soul in the midst of the world's din, buffeted by the world's cares, remains itself calm and unmoved, and all the while the light of God's countenance shines in upon it.

The soul, thus "praying at all times in spirit," ever fervent, like a garden, refreshed by the dew of heaven and watered by a gushing fountain, is ever producing an abundance of beautiful plants and flowers. Prayer is the dew from heaven upon the soul; "the fountain of living waters which run with a strong stream from Libanus," is the habit of fervent aspirations. The soul thus watered, thus refreshed by the grace of God, is ever fervent, is ever in flower and blossom, ever producing the precious, the rich fruits of holy desires and good works. "Blessed is the man," says the Word of God, "who shall meditate on his law day and night. And he shall be like a tree which is planted near the running waters, which shall bring forth its fruit in due season: his leaf shall not fall off: and whatsoever he shall do shall prosper.".Ps. 1. 3.

Pious Reflection.

"My soul how abundant the means God in His infinite mercy has given thee for thy salvation, and to increase thy glory in heaven. By a little attention the whole day and night can be one continued prayer pleasing to God, meritorious of glory. God is within thee and round about thee. He will hear and accept thy good desires. Keep God and Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament before thee the whole day long. Constantly praise that good God who at every instant of thy life bestows blessings and graces upon thee.

Resolutions.

My dear God, my love in the tabernacle, for Thy greater glory, through love and gratitude for Thy countless mercies, known and unknown, I resolve, first, to avoid, to the utmost of my power, every deliberate sin, venial as well as mortal. Secondly, every morning of my life I will offer to Thy greater glory all the actions of the day, in union with those of Jesus Christ. I will say: "My good God, I offer to Thy greater glory all the thoughts, words, and actions of this day, in union with those of Jesus Christ, and for the holy intentions of the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ." Thirdly, I resolve to begin every action or work of the day by the same offering. I will say: "My good God, I offer to Thy greater glory this work, in union with the actions of Jesus Christ." And lastly, during my little occupations, I resolve to remember Thy Divine Presence and the Real Presence of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, by fervent aspirations. Sacred Heart of Jesus! grant me grace to keep these my resolutions. Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, recommend me to the Sacred Heart of thy Son.

We here subjoin (To appear next month) a collection of indulgenced prayers and aspirations, which will be useful for all, but especially for the sick and dying, who are incapable of reciting long prayers. It is such a holy thing for the sick to have constantly in their hearts, as well as on their tongues, these short prayers, which will keep their souls in union with God, while the indulgences gained will shorten their purgatory in the world to come.

Morning Offering and Intention.

My good God, I offer to Thy greater glory all the thoughts, words, and actions of this day, in union with those of Jesus Christ, for the holy intentions of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and I desire to gain all the indulgences annexed to the pious prayers and aspirations I may make during the day.

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