Page:TheYoungMansGuide.djvu/226

 Father Von  Doss,  in  his  admirable "Thoughts and  Counsels  for  Young  Men," says truly:

"To receive  the  sacraments  of  Penance  and the  Blessed  Eucharist  only  at  Easter-time,  is  to reduce  our  Catholicity  to  a  minimum,  to  hang on  to  the  Church,  'as  it  were,  by  the  last  thread.

"The oftener  we  go  to  confession,  the  easier  it becomes.  The  longer  we  stay  away,  the  more difficult  it  is  to  discover  our  faults,  the  more awkward  we  become  in  this  important  business. God  grant  that  this  awkwardness  and  helplessness on  the  bed  of  death  may  not  be  followed by  the  most  terrible  consequences!

"Make the  trial  Go  to  confession  often  —  at least  once  a  month.  You  will  see  that  it  becomes easier  with  every  repetition.

"O my  God!  I  often  grieve  and  lament  in secret  over  the  weakness  and  inconstancy  of my  heart!  Miserable,  almost  despairing,  I  look down  into  the  abyss,  to  whose  verge  my  sinful passions  have  dragged  me,  and  I  regard  myself as  lost.  I  am  so  utterly  the  sport  of  the  surging waves,  that  I  fail  to  struggle  against  them.

"Vain lamentations!  Cowardice!  Folly!  I can  dam  up  the  stream,  and  bring  the  waves  to a  standstill  —  not  by  a  mere  passive  looking  on, or  wringing  of  my  hands;  not  by  an  unmanly surrender  of  myself  —  but  by  a  faithful  employment of  those  means  which  He  who  has  created me  has  placed  before  me.

"I can  escape  the  abyss  which  threatens  to engulf  me  —  but  it  is  only  by  repeatedly  casting myself  into  Thy  arms,  O  my  God,  and  by  clinging to  Thee."

"A preservation  from  stumbling,  and  a  help