SEVENTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST.
Christ the Love of your Soul.
"Behold my love speaketh to me, arise, make haste, my love, my dove, my beautiful one and come." (Cant. ii. 10.)
I. "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, with thy whole soul, and with all thy mind." (Matt. xxii. 37.) God wishes us to make Him the object of our souls' love, and hence He calls us His beloved, His spouses, and His sisters. " Open to Me, My sister, My love." (Cant. v. 2.) Love is gained and supported by love, and hence the disciple of love, St. John, writes, " Let us love God, because God first loved us." (1 John iv. 19.) This God "hath loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood." (Apoc. i. 5.) Never did mother love her infant, nor spouse his beloved, so affectionately as God loves man. He makes Himself man's companion, his food, his ransom, and his everlasting reward. Surely a Being so loving deserves to be loved " with your whole heart, with your whole soul, and with all your mind."
II. To-day your Beloved will enter your heart in the Holy Eucharist, in order that you may enjoy His conversation and affectionate entertainment with more leisure. " If any one loves Me he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make an abode with him." (John xiv. 23.) Reflect what an immensity of heavenly graces will be bestowed on your soul by His remaining with you, if your mind be properly disposed to receive Him. God says of Himself, "With Me are riches and glory; glorious riches and jus-
