quire the consent of the Virgin to be the mother of God. God has a right to exact anything that He pleases from His creatures, but he wishes that our correspondence with His will should be voluntary. " He who created you without your own concurrence," says St. Augustine, " will not save you without it." Alas! how often does God send you His invisible angels, His holy inspirations, to gain your good will, and consent that He may be conceived spiritually in your soul, and you refuse Him. Ask pardon for your obstinacy, and " if to-day you shall hear His voice harden not your hearts." (Ps. xciv. 8.)
TUESDAY.
The Angel's Salutation.
I. " And the angel having come in, said to her, Hail full of grace, the Lord is with thee." (Luke i. 28.) The grave comportment of the angel and the modesty of his countenance corresponded to his veneration of the Virgin. Learn hence to act like an angel in your intercourse with men, but more especially so with God in prayer. The Virgin was pronounced by the angel to be full of grace, by excellence, and far superior to all other pure creatures. Reflect what you are full of, whether of grace and virtue, or not rather of pride, vanity and self-love. " Our Lord is with thee," continued the angel, by His special presence and the effects of His grace; and she was with God in her thoughts, desires, and affections. Happy communication! Examine your actions and affections, and try to unite them to God.
II. Consider the actions and thoughts of the Virgin at that time. She was alone and praying in her closet (as the holy Fathers tell us), to teach you how you ought to entertain yourself with God in solitude, if you desire to
