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 emptied Himself: "He emptied Himself." [Phil. 2:7] "He, as it were, reduced Himself to nothing," says a certain author; "He made Himself empty of majesty, of glory, of strength." In a manner, He lowered Himself to nothing; He put off His majesty, glory, and power, and took on Himself ignominies and infirmities, to make over to us His worth and His virtues, that so He might be our light, our justice, our satisfaction, and our ransom: Who is made unto us wisdom, and justice, and sanctification, and redemption. [1 Cor. 1:30] And He remains ready at any moment to give health and strength to everyone that asks Him. I saw One girt about the paps with a golden girdle. [Apoc. 1:12] St. John saw the Lord with His breasts full of milk (that is, full of graces), and bound about with a girdle of gold; this signifies that Jesus Christ is, as it were, hemmed round and compressed with the love He bears to man; and as the mother, whose breast is oversupplied with milk, seeks for children who may imbibe the nourishment and relieve her of the burden, so does He yearn for us to come and seek graces of Him, and the necessary help to conquer our enemies, who strive to rob us of His friendship and of eternal salvation. Oh, how bounteous and liberal is God with a soul that sincerely and resolutely seeks Him! The Lord is good to the soul that seeketh Him. [Lam. 3:25] Wherefore, if we do not become Saints, the failure rests with us, because we do not resolve to wish for God alone: The sluggard willeth and willeth not. [Prov. 13:4] The lukewarm will and will not; and therefore