accompanied thy oblation — and in that profound humility, which on this solemnity concealed thy glorious privileges from all the world. Do thou thyself give us the Divine Infant in each of our communions, as thou didst to holy Simeon. Obtain that, like him, a lively faith may discover to us Our Lord and Salvation, in the mystery of His humiliation; that our hearts may love Him therein ardently, and that frequent union with Jesus, in the Sacrament of His infinite goodness, may so detach us from the world, that we may never cease to sigh after that kingdom of peace, where we shall never sin, and never cease to love. Amen.
Novena to St. Joseph.
O GLORIOUS descendant of the kings of Juda! inheritor of the virtues of all the patriarchs! just and happy St. Joseph! listen to our prayers. Thou art our glorious protector, and shalt ever be, after Jesus and Mary, the object of our most profound veneration and tender confidence. Thou art a hidden saint, though one of the greatest of saints, and art peculiarly the patron of interior souls.
In union with all those who have ever been most devoted to thee, we now dedicate ourselves to thy service, beseeching thee, for the sake of Jesus Christ, Who vouchsafed to love and obey thee as a Son, to become a father to us, and to obtain for us the filial respect, confidence, and love of children toward thee. O powerful advocate of all Christians! whose intercession, as St. Teresa assures us, has never been found to fail, deign to intercede for us now and to implore for us the particular intentions of the novena. (Specify them.) Present us, O great saint, to the adorable Trinity with Whom thou hadst so glorious and so intimate a correspondence. Obtain that we may never efface by sin the sacred image according to the likeness of which we were created. Beg for us that our divine Redeemer may enkindle in our hearts, and in all hearts, the fire of His love, and infuse therein the virtues of His adorable infancy — His purity, simplicity, obedience, and humility. Obtain for us likewise a lively devotion to thy Virgin spouse, and protect us so powerfully in life and in death that we may have the happiness of dying,
