Page:Meditations For Every Day In The Year.djvu/202

 " Behold,  He  shall  neither  slumber  nor  sleep  who  keepeth Israel." (Ps. cxx.  4.)  All  this  care  and  vigilance  He uses  in  your  regard,  to  preserve  you  from  evil. Oh what a happiness  it  is  to  rest  under  the  protection  of  so  powerful and  so  beneficent  a  guardian!

II. This guardian  of  yours  will  to-day  enter  the  fortress of  your  soul,  in  the  holy  Eucharist,  to  strengthen and defend  it  against  your  mortal  enemy  the  devil,  who surrounds it  day  and  night,  seeking  its  destruction. This divine  table,  this  holy  banquet,  is  instituted  chiefly as a  means  of  defence  against  our  enemies:  "Thou  hast prepared  a  table  before  me,"  says  the  prophet,  "against them  that  afflict  me." (Ps. xxii.  5.)  Conceive  hence  an unbounded  confidence  in  your  guardian,  and  look  for the happy  hour  in  which  you  are  to  receive  Him.

III. In what  manner  ought  you  to  entertain  Him? You must divest  your  heart  of  everything  that  you  know  will displease Him,  or  else  He  may  immediately  abandon  you, and you  may  fall  into  the  hands  of  your  enemies. Freely surrender yourself  to  Him,  and  desire  Him  to  dispose  of yourself  and  everything  that  belongs  to  you,  as  He pleases. Ask pardon  for  your  former  offences,  and  say with the  prophet,  "  Keep  me,  O  Lord,  from  the  hand  of the  wicked;  and  from  unjust  men  deliver  me." (Ps. cxxxix. 5.)

I. "And  when  morning  was  come,  all  the  chief  priests and  ancients  of  the  people,  held  a  council  against  Jesus, to  put  Him  to  death." (Matt, xxvii.  1.)  How  active  are the children  of  this  world  in  their  works  of  darkness, scarce giving  themselves  time  to  rest  or  to  sleep! Oh that you were  as  zealous  in  the  service  of  God! Think how