[ Thank the Almighty now for all his gifts and graces . Beg pardon for having been unfaithful to him , and resolve to correspond, with docility , to all the suggestions of his graces for the future. ]
“ From him to whom much hath been given much will be required ” ( St. Luke xii . ).
“ Grace is followed by judgment ” ( St. Basil ).
SEVENTEENTH DAY : GOOD USE OF TIME.
1. The loss of time is one of the greatest misfortunes in the world. This life, so short! all its moments so precious yet we live as if it were never to end, or as if we had nothing to fear hereafter.
2. Alas! if a damned soul had but one single moment of the time which we squander away , what good use would he make of it ! Every instant of life we may purchase a happy eternity, The opportunity of enriching or amusing ourselves we never miss ; but the means of salvation appear to us indifferent.
3. The day which is best employed is not always the one that has most forwarded our temporal affairs , but that which has added most to our merits , and which God has been best pleased with. Let us always so regulate our time , that God and our salvation may be our constant object.
[Renew the resolution you have taken to serve God faithfully ; and be firmly persuaded that the time which is not employed for God , is no more than so much time lost for ever. ]
“ God hath given to no person time for sinning " ( Eccles. xv. ).
“ You have leisure to become a philosopher; but you have none to become a Christian ” ( St. Paul ).
EIGHTEENTH DAY : USE OF THE SACRAMENTS.
1. The sacraments are the channels of divine grace : through them the merits of Christ abundantly flow into our souls. We must, therefore, take care to approach them worthily ; for, other . wise 'his merits will not avail us , nor will our salvation , of course , be possible.
2. The abuse of the sacraments is an evil of the first magnitude . They were instituted as the means of life ; but when perverted they lead to eternal death . There is no medium; they must be either our food or our poison . How dreadful, then, must it be to reflect, that after so many confessions, we should be so little improved - that after repeated communions, we should still follow the same sinful course.
3. The unworthy communicant receives his own condemnation , and becomes as it were incorporated with his own ruin. What answer can he give, when called to account for his baseness ? How shall he hope to escape when arraigned for such daring profanations ?
[ Examine yourself carefully upon the use you have made of the sacraments, and receive them , for the future, as if death were immediately approaching .]
“ Let a man prove himself ” ( 1 Cor. ).
“ There are bad Christians who are called by the name of
