Page:BlessedSacramentBook.pdf/27

 brace, neither  has  there been any  sorrow  for  which it has  not  won  consolation, nor  any  temptation which it  has  not  merited grace to  overcome. Souls who will  not  pray  for themselves, who  stand  on the  verge  of  eternal  ruin, are snatched  from  the edge of  the  precipice  by the  graces  that  they  owe to the  prayer  which  the Divine Solitary  of  Nazareth offered  up  for  them, whilst the  sweat  ran  down His face  as  He  toiled,  or as  He  knelt  through  the silence of  the  night,  praying with  *a  strong  cry  and tears, and  was  heard  for His reverence'  (Heb.  v.  7).

"When souls  who  are thus  called  to  the  contemplative life  increase in  the  love  of  God,  there springs  up  spontaneously within  their  breast  a  desire to  promote  His  interests, and  then  it  is  that  the memory  of  Nazareth  sheds itself  over  them  as  a  ray of  light,  indicating  the infallible  means  by  which alone  they  can  attain  the end  desired.

"Prayer and  penance, the  daily  mortification  of a  common  life,  subject  to all  kinds  of  restraint  and subjection,  a  life  wherein self-will  can  have  no  part — such  are  the  arms whereby  contemplatives fight  the  battles  of  the Lord,  battles  ignored  indeed by  the  world,  but well  known  to  God  and to  His  angels.

"It was,  then,  a  loving design  of  His  Providence by  which  God  provided for  the  souls,  above  described, a  means  by  which they  could  at  once  follow the  tendency  He  Himself had  given  them  towards solitude  passed  in  His presence,  and  in  labor for  the  interests  of  His glory.  Happy,  then,  are those  Religious,  set  apart from  all  others  for  the mission  of  prayer  and reparation,  to  whom  has also  been  given  a  particular drawing  towards meditation  on  the  hidden life  of  Jesus.  It  will  present to  them  a  mirror wherein  they  may  behold the  characteristic  features of  their  own  daily  life in  the  perfection  to  which it  was  raised  in  Jesus. They  will  have  but  to turn  their  mental  vision to  Nazareth  in  order  to