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 eleven struggle  all  the  more  fiercely  the  nearer  they come to  their  goal;  so  we,  seeing  the  goal  of  our  lives, our salvation,  so  much  nearer  and  clearer,  should  be the  more  eager  and  vigilant  in  its  attainment.

To these  reasons  of  St.  Paul  for  our  spiritual awakening, I  would  venture  to  add  a  third. To-day is the  first  day — the  dawn  of  the  Ecclesiastical  Year. To-day we  begin  to  prepare  for  Christ's  spiritual  coming at  Christmas. Now is  the  hour  for  us  to  rise  from the sleep  of  sin,  and  relight  the  lamp  of  God's  grace  in our  souls  and  lovingly  keep  vigil  against  the  coming of Our  Lord. As at  His  first  coming  the  tidings  of great  joy  were  told  only  to  the  watching  shepherds, and the  star  of  hope  shone  only  on  the  wakeful  seers; so now  none  but  those  vigilant  in  the  service  of  God can realize  the  full  benefit  of  Christ's  spiritual  coming. Never was  this  call  to  awake  more  appropriate, or neglect  of  it  more  culpable,  than  now. As the brightness and  heat  of  the  sun  grow  less  age  by  age, so does  faith  grow  dim  and  charity  lose  its  ardor, and our  souls,  like  ice-bound  explorers  benumbed with cold,  sink  into  the  fatal  sleep  of  death. Hence, we are  inclined  even  more  than  the  people  of  St. Paul's  time,  to  forget  God  in  our  devotion  to  the world, the  flesh,  and  the  devil. And our  folly  is  more guilty than  theirs. For, in  the  beginning  of  time  and of Christianity,  men  did  not  know  the  world  as  they know it  now;  they  had  not,  like  us,  a  past  history from which  to  learn  its  hollowness,  nor  had  they,  as we,  learned  from  bitter  personal  experience  that  it  is all  vanity  of  vanities,  and  gives  naught  to  its  votaries