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THE

Nc. 46.

PUBLISHED WEEKLY,

UNDER THE INSPECTION OF CATHOLIC DIVINES.

DUBLIN, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 27,. 1834. VOL. I.

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AND after eight days were accomplished that the child should be circum-. cised, his name was called Jesus, which was called by the angel, before he was conceived in the womb. 22. And after the days of her purification according to the law of Moses were accomplished, they carried him to Jerusalem, to present him to the Lord. 23. As it is written in the law of the Lord, That every male opening the womb shall be called holy to the Lord. 24. And to offer a sacrifice according as it is written in the law of the Lord, pair of turtle doves, or two young pigeons.-St. Luke ii. 21.

THE CIRCUMCISION.
O angels! who sung peace to earth,
With blissful tidings of his birth,
Behold your great your glorious King,
Commence his reign of suffering!
Though pure and holy without spot,
Chaste Mary bore him in the grot
-Of Bethlehem, though no stain of sin
Obscured his brightest origin;

Yet stoops he in the dawn of life,
To circumcision's painful knife;
Pours out his blood from mercy's vein,
The earnest of his future pain.

In vain did man his altars raise
No legal victims could appease
Heav'n's wrath, enkindled by the sin
Of our corrupted origin,

"In place of ancient sacrifice,
O God! behold I come," he cries:

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Father, I come to do thy will

I come thy justice to fulfil."

Angels of love your wonder cease,
For this is your own Prince of Peace-
The world's atoning sacrifice,

Whose praise you hymn'd from lofty skies.
Alas! those precious drops of blood-
Are but the springs of that great flood
Which yet from Calvary's mount shall roll,
To cleanse the world from pole to pole.
At Naz'reth Gabriel did proclaim †
That Jesus was his mystic name
At what a costly painful rate
He earns the endearing epithet!
O men approach your Infant King!
Your richest tributes to him bring:
For you his blood he freely gives-
Oh give him both your hearts and lives.
His eyes, bedewed with pearly rain,
Weep for your sins, not for his pain-
His lovely hands, upturn'd to heaven,
Pray that your crimes may be forgiven
Let Jesus be your sweetest theme;
Perfuse with love his saving name:
Sing Jesus during life-in death

To Jesus give your parting breath.—PATRITIUS.

* "Sacrifice and oblation thou didst not desire; but thou hast pierced ears for me. Burnt-offering and sin-offering thou didst not require: then said I, Behold I come. In the head of the book it is written of me that I should do thy will, O my God."-PSALM XXXIX. 7, 8, 9

+ St. Luke i. 31,

MEDITATIONS.

[TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH. BY A CATHOLIC PRIEST.]

DECAMBER 28-On the Perfect Law.

I. THE evangelical law is the law spoken of by the apostle St. James, when he says: "Those who attentively consider the perfect law, &c."

It is called perfect, because there is nothing inconsistent in its. perfection; if it severely forbids private revenge, it permits and authorizes public punishment on offenders; if it proscribes avarice, and too great an attachment to the goods of this world, it does not forbid us to enrich ourselves by honest and lawful means; if it condemns luxury and extravagance, it approves of those expenses which our condition in life requires. The law is perfect in itself, by the perfection with which it regulates every state, and corrects every disorder.

11. There is nothing imperfect in its moderation.

If it distinguishes precepts from counsels, it declares that the contempt of counsels leads to the transgression of precepts; if it inspires sinners with a salutary confidence to preserve them from despair, it shows them sufficient motives to forbid presumption; if it disapproves of an excess of exterior mortification, it places no limits to that of the passions.

DECEMBER 29.-On Imperfect Obedience to the Law of God."

I. The principle of our imperfect obedience is, a desire to satisfy our passions without prejudice to our salvation.

We have just reason to fear the judgments of God if we violate his law in essential points, and we obey it in certain things to save ourselves from cternal damnation: yet we will not submit our passions without reserve to that limited and unrestrained obedience it requires, but allow ourselves free liberty in everything that does Hot amount to crime. We say, it is only a too lively attachment, and we avoid everything that would render it criminal-it is only a slight mark of aversion; but we never carry it to the extent of revenge,

II. The danger of this imperfect obedience to the law of God. We do not sufficiently know our passions if we flatter ourselves that in yielding to them we can restrain them within just limits.-They are always extreme in their desires, and it is as natural for them to tend to excess as it is reasonable to avoid and subdue them.

DECEMBER 30.-On the Law of Fasting.

I. The general end of this law is the mortification of the flesh. Mortification has three subordinate effects which render this law infinitely salutary. "Fast," says St. Chrysostom, "because you have sinned; Jejuna, quia peccasti;" it is a satisfaction you owe

to the divine justice which you have offended. "Fast, that you may sin no more; Jejuna, ut non pecces;" it is a precaution you must take to withdraw yourself from the empire of your senses, and conquer the desires of the flesh. "Fast to draw down upon you the blessings of heaven; Jejuna, ut accipias;" it is a means to obtain them.

II. We too easily seek for dispensations from the law of fasting. It is true we may be dispensed from the law of fasting; but there must be a real necessity to make the dispensation valid; it does not depend on man to change upon earth what the Lord has ordained in heaven. Reflect that this necessity, true or false, will one day be weighed in the balance of God's justice, and with what a burden your conscience will be charged if your exemption from fasting arose from false delicacy or imaginary fears.

DECEMBER 31.-On True Fusting.

1. True fasting is that which is referred to God,

And which we observe not through custom or habit, but from a sincere desire to obtain pardon and mercy from God, to appease his wrath and receive his grace. "Has your fasting been referred to me, and for my love?" said the Lord to his people, by his prophet Zachary Are you not satisfied with the simple exterior of devotion in which your heart has no part?

II. Fasting should be accompanied by prayer, and works of

mercy.

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Lord," said the Israelites, "we have fasted, and you have not vouchsafed to look on us." "Be not surprised," answered the Lord, by the prophet Isaias, for even on the day of your fasting you still think of satisfying your passions. The fast I approve of is, to break the bonds of iniquity, and divide your bread with the hungry."

JANUARY 1. On the Employment of Time.

1. Nothing is more precious than time.

It is given us in order to serve and glorify God, and to merit heaven it is not, then, a thing which is properly our own, and of which we can dispose as we please. It is a talent which is entrusted to us in order to profit by it, and for which we must one day render an account to our Sovereign Judge. It is even more precious in proportion as its duration is equally rapid and uncertain. It passes away like lightning; it vanishes like a dream. Already the past is no more, the present flies from us, and the future is uncertain. All the moments of our life are reckoned, and there is not one which does not either increase the treasure of our merits or augment the number of our sins. The true Christian is avaricious of his time; he fears to lose it: he divides the whole of it between the duties of religion and those of his state. This is what the Scripture calls, "full days, days of salvation." dies salutis.

Dies pleni,

II. Nothing is more abused than time.

How is it employed in the world? How do the greater part of mankind spend their time? In useless visits, in frivolous, dangerous, or criminal conversations. Play without end, eternal amusements occupy the greater portion of it, and it is entirely filled up by dissipation, idleness, and sloth. Serious and useless occupations are always the briefest and the most neglected. We complain of, and abridge the time that we are forced to bestow on them. Do not suffer me, O Lord, to mispend any longer to my. destruction those precious moments that ought to be employed only for my salvation.

JANUARY 2.-On the Love of God.

I. It is our first duty to love God,

Because God deserves and requires our love. He deserves it for his own sake and for his benefits. For his own sake; he is the most perfect, and consequently the most amiable of all beings; he is the author and source of everything that touches and ravishes our hearts; even the charm and beauty of sentiment are an effect of his power. He deserves our love by reason of his benefits: what do we possess that we have not received from God? Is it not he who has created and who preserves us? Is not everything we behold, and everything that we are, a gift of his magnificence and bounty? We have only to cast our eyes upon ourselves and upon everything that surrounds us to find a motive for loving him. He not only deserves our love but he requires it. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God." Behold the first and the greatest of commandments-one which comprises the whole law and the prophets.

II. The fulfilment of this duty is of great extent.

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It consists in bestowing on God habitually and perpetually an entire and absolute preference over every other object-to prefer him even to ourselves, to everything that is dear to us, and all creatures. It is sufficient to love our neighbour as ourselves : God alone are we bound to love more than ourselves. Reflect attentively on this saying of Jesus Christ: He that loves his father and his mother more than me, is not worthy of me."He who does not render me the measure of love which I require, and which I have a right to exact from all the souls that I have created for my glory, is an infidel; he sets limits and restrictions to a preference which should have none.

JANUARY 3.-On observing the Laws of God.

I. He who loves God observes the laws of God with fidelity. He is careful to please him; he always fears to offend him.True love infallibly produces a conformity of sentiments and wills. He, therefore, has no other will but that of God. Everything that God reproves he condemus, and everything that God ordains he

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