Page:Meditations For Every Day In The Year.djvu/85

 " Trust,  therefore,  in  the  Lord,  and  do  good,  and  He  will give  thee  the  request  of  thy  heart." (Ps. xxxvi.  3,  4.)

II. " He  shall  be  called  John"  (Luke  1.  60),  which  signifies grace ;  for  no  Saint  whatever,  Christ's  blessed mother alone  excepted,  possessed  such  an  abundance  of grace. He was  by  his  office  and  by  the  purity  of  his  life an angel;  he  was  an  Elias  in  spirit;  he  was  more  than a prophet;  he  was  sanctified  in  his  mother's  womb ;  and, as Christ  Himself  tells  us,  "  a  greater  than  he  never  rose from  a  woman." Reverence this  Saint,  so  singularly  beloved and  so  nearly  allied  to  our  Lord,  and  endeavor  to imitate  his  heroic  virtues.

III. Consider what  happened  at  his  birth  :  1. His mother, by  divine  inspiration,  gives  him  his  name. 2. His father  writing  the  same  name,  "his  mouth  was opened  and  his  tongue  loosed ;  and  he  spoke,  blessing God." 3. He  was  "filled  with  the  Holy  Ghost." 4. " Fear  came  upon  all  their  neighbors  :  and  all  these  words were  divulged  over  the  mountainous  country  of  Judea." 5. "  All  they  who  heard  them  laid  them  up  in  their  hearts, saying,  What  kind  of  child  think  you  shall  this  be?  For the  hand  of  the  Lord  was  with  him." (Luke i.  64  to  66.) Do you,  in  like  manner,  lay  these  things  up  in  your  heart by serious  meditation,  and  pray  that  the  hand  of  the Lord may  be  also  with  you.

"Zacheus, make  haste  and  come  down;  for  to-day  I  must  abide  in thy  house." — (Luke xix.  5.)

I. Christ,  although  He  be  the  King  of  glory,  whom myriads of  angels  attend  in  heaven,  ardently  desires,  notwithstanding, to  become  the  guest  of  your  soul. Hence