What is there that we can give to our little King that we have not received from His Divine abundance? Let us, then, give Him our hearts, which He prizes above all. O Saviour of our souls, transform our hearts into gold, through charity; into myrrh, through mortification; into incense, by prayer; and then receive us within the arms of Thy Divine Protection, and let us hear Thee say, from Thy Sacred Heart, 'I am thy Salvation for ages of ages.'
SPIRITUAL FLOWERS.
'A bundle of myrrh is my Beloved to me. He shall abide between my breasts' (Cant. i. 12), in order that I may incessantly inhale its bitterness.
The afflictions of this life are like the flowers that precede the fruits of glory; and the blood which we shed is as a royal unction which consecrates us to immortality.—St. Greg. Nyssen.
The rose grows amidst thorns; and the most beautiful and most solid virtues grow amidst the severest contradictions.—St. Francis of Sales.
No one will be crowned with roses, if he be not first crowned with the thorns of Our Saviour.—The same.
Our actions are like roses, which, though more pleasing when fresh, are yet sweeter and more agreeable when faded. Thus, although works performed with consolation are more pleasing to us; yet if they be done in the state of aridity, they have a sweeter odour, higher value before God.—The same.
A Fortunate Mistake.
The following is related by an eye-witness of the event: 'One evening, in December, 1855, a Priest named B——, having returned to his house after a hard day's work, sat down and began to recite his Office, when he heard a knock at his door. He opened it, and saw a young girl, who asked him to go and visit a dying lady, living at No. 28, — Street. . . . The good Priest was ready to interrupt his prayer to follow the little messenger, but she told him there was no hurry, provided he went in the course of that evening; so he wrote down the address of the sick person, and told her to say that he was coming shortly.