An Act Of Supplication.
Our Saviour's last supper was one continual prayer, which he offered up for his apostles, and a most pressing invitation to solicit favours from him. "O holy Father," says he, "preserve those whom thou hast given me; for them I ask. Peter, I have asked for thee. Until now you have not asked for anything; ask, and you shall receive." Here he exhorts us to pray for all those graces we stand most in need of. He further adds a most affecting and solid instruction, recommending them earnestly to persevere in his service: "Remain," says he, "in my love." He forewarned them of the trials they were to undergo; he inculcated certain precepts; he reproached them with some of their most striking defects. In this manner will he also speak privately to your heart; he will make known his will to you; he will tell you many things of which you have no notion, or which you disguise to yourself. Listen to him then without doubt, as the apostles did, and ask him questions with the most sincere desire to accomplish his holy will.
Thou are present within me, O inexhaustible source of all good; thou art full of tenderness, and ready to shed all thy favours upon me. O shower them down most abundantly! Consider my manifold wants; consider the immensity of thy power. Transform me, therefore, into a new man. Divest my heart of whatever is displeasing to thee. Adorn it with whatever may render me acceptable in thy sight. Purify my body. Sanctify my soul. Let me share in the merits of thy life and death. Unite thyself to me; unite me to thyself. Live thou in me, that in thee I also may live, and never have life but for thy sake. Grant me those graces of which thou knowest I stand most in need. Grant the same to all those for whom I am bound to pray. Canst thou refuse me any thing, after what thou hast done for me? What may I not expect from thee, since thou hast given me thyself? "I will not let thee go until thou dost bless me."—Gen. xxxii. 26. "Do to thy servant according to thy mercy."
An Act Of Oblation.
In crowning the innumerable gifts thou hast already bestowed upon me with the inestimable favour of giving me thyself, thou desirest to convince me that I should live but for thy sake alone, O God of goodness and mercy! This, O Lord, is what I also most fervently wish: I would have all my thoughts, words, actions, and whatever designs I may form or put into execution, for the time to come, always directed by a most perfect resignation to thy holy will. I desire that my health, fortune, strength, reputation, talents of mind and body; in a word, whatever relates to me, either interiorly or exteriorly, may be entirely disposed of to thy honour and glory. I consecrate the remainder of my life, without the least reserve, to thy divine service. I now make an offering unto thee of whatever pains or sufferings I may hereafter undergo in my last sickness, and cheerfully accept of whatever crosses thou mayest henceforth be pleased to afflict me with. "Into thy hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit."—Psalm xxx.
A Resolution Of Amendment.
"That the world may know that I love the Father; and as the Father gave me a commandment, so I do. Arise, let us go," saith Christ, (John, xiii.) "instantly and without hesitation, to execute his will." Such is the generosity with which we should now, and at all times, resolve to execute, in every particular, the commandments of the Almighty.
Behold, O my God, the moment is now come, wherein I am to sacrifice those inclinations to thee which thou hast so often demanded, and which I was so miserably slothful as to have refused thee. I now see the danger to which my sluggish languor has exposed me, and am determined to avoid it. I will labour incessantly against my vicious habits. I am determined to quit the immediate occasion of sin. I pledge myself to thee, and am satisfied to be treated as thine enemy, if these promises be not most sincere and determined. I will no longer resist thy inspirations, nor allow myself those pleasures which thy law forbids, nor expose myself to the danger of offending thee. There shall be no more remissness in my duty, nor languor in my devotion. I do not make these promises through a spirit of presumption, (for I am convinced of my own insufficiency, and know, that if abandoned by thee, I must necessarily fall back into all my former disorders,) but being now united to thee, I flatter myself that, in spite of my frailty, I shall constantly persevere in thy grace. Why should I not find the same strength in this divine sacrament, which thy glorious martyrs have derived from it? It was here they imbibed that generous spirit of suffering, which could brave the power of tyrants, and smile on the horrors of death. And art thou now less faithful, less liberal, or less able to fortify me against the attacks of the enemies of my salvation? No. Come, then, it is full time I should begin the work of my salvation. Thy will has been sufficiently declared to me; I will hesitate no longer to put it in execution, how great soever the conflict may be against myself and the world. In fine, let me feel, O Lord, an experimental conviction of such a reformation of life, as may edify those whom my past conduct has scandalized, by convincing them that I do now really love thee. "Arise, let us go: I have sworn, and am resolved to keep thy commandments."—Psalm cxviii. "Confirm, O God, what thou hast wrought in us.'"—Psalm lxxvi.