" Behold, He shall neither slumber nor sleep who keepeth Israel." (Ps. cxx. 4.) All this care and vigilance He uses in your regard, to preserve you from evil. Oh what a happiness it is to rest under the protection of so powerful and so beneficent a guardian!
II. This guardian of yours will to-day enter the fortress of your soul, in the holy Eucharist, to strengthen and defend it against your mortal enemy the devil, who surrounds it day and night, seeking its destruction. This divine table, this holy banquet, is instituted chiefly as a means of defence against our enemies: "Thou hast prepared a table before me," says the prophet, "against them that afflict me." (Ps. xxii. 5.) Conceive hence an unbounded confidence in your guardian, and look for the happy hour in which you are to receive Him.
III. In what manner ought you to entertain Him? You must divest your heart of everything that you know will displease Him, or else He may immediately abandon you, and you may fall into the hands of your enemies. Freely surrender yourself to Him, and desire Him to dispose of yourself and everything that belongs to you, as He pleases. Ask pardon for your former offences, and say with the prophet, " Keep me, O Lord, from the hand of the wicked; and from unjust men deliver me." (Ps. cxxxix. 5.)
MONDAY.
Christ is Led to Pilate.
I. "And when morning was come, all the chief priests and ancients of the people, held a council against Jesus, to put Him to death." (Matt, xxvii. 1.) How active are the children of this world in their works of darkness, scarce giving themselves time to rest or to sleep! Oh that you were as zealous in the service of God! Think how
