Then the earth shook to its centre; from which you should learn how much cause sinners have to dread the rigorous justice of God, who did not spare his only begotten Son. The rocks were rent, to show you that your heart should be broken with sorrow at the recollection of your Redeemer’s sufferings, even though it were as cold and as hard as marble. The opening of the sepulchres, and resurrection of the dead, admonish you, that if you would participate in the fruit of our Redeemer’s Passion and Death by a worthy Communion, you must open the sepulchre of your conscience, and cast out all the dead works of iniquity by a candid and contrite confession. Reflect particularly, that the sepulchre in which Jesus would have his most precious body laid, was new, no person having been laid there before (St. John xix.); therefore the soul which prepares to become the repository of the same precious body, should be renovated by contrition, and a firm resolution of leading a new life, and banish all that could disturb the reign of Jesus Christ in her heart. Are these your dispositions V Have the foregoing reflections animated you to renounce all such vain pleasures as may unfortunately lead you to crucify again the Son of God? This is the moment to form those salutary resolutions, if you have hitherto neglected doing so. Penetrated with that holy fear of the judgments of God, and that firm confidence in his mercy, which the sufferings of Christ should naturally inspire, examine your heart at the foot of the cross, and see all that so great an example demands from you. Do not the excessive torments of Jesus reproach you with immortification and self-seeking? Does not the hard bed of the cross condemn your attachment to your own ease, and your horror of the least inconvenience? Can
