MONDAY.
Christ Grows in Age and Wisdom. — I.
I. "And Jesus increased in wisdom and age, and grace with God and men." (Luke ii. 52.) Christ, from the first moment of His conception, possessed the plenitude of all wisdom, grace, and virtue, but in outward appearance He seemed to increase in them, thus accommodating His words and actions to His age. Hence you ought to infer that it is your duty to accommodate yourself to the times, places, and situations you are in, and particularly to make continual progress in virtue. For not to advance is to go back; there is nothing stationary in the way of virtue.
II. There are different manners of failing, or of making progress in virtue. Some, after they have begun well, fail in constancy, and resume their former course of life. These our Lord condemns when he says, " No man putting his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God." (Luke ix. 62.) He tells us to remember Lot's wife who was turned into a pillar of salt, as a warning to others not to cast a lingering look back again on the sinful object which they have left.
III. Others in the progress of virtue grow remiss and tepid in the use of those means which are calculated to increase their fervor, and are therefore in danger of falling. To these Christ addresses Himself in the Apocalypse: "This I have against thee, that thou hast left thy first charity." (Apoc. ii. 4.) Others, again, begin and advance with a slow pace; and although there appears no great outward defect, there is generally a real internal decay. There are others, finally, who begin
