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 love the pure, because He Himself is a pure spirit, and must therefore necessarily abhor the impure, who are like unto the beasts.

5. With whom is a pure soul to be compared? As Holy Scripture tells us, she can not be compared to anything in this world. "What," says St. Bernard, "is more precious than chastity, which makes an angel out of a man? " The chaste man is especially distinguished for his courage and fortitude in the struggle of life. O my dear young man, H you regard your body as the temple of the Holy Ghost, and desire to preserve it as such, understand, and inscribe it deeply on the tablets of your heart, that in days to come you may be sick, and poor, and wretched, despised by your fellow-men, but if you remain pure of heart, you are and remain a being worthy of veneration, beloved by God as He loves His angels.

6. If the Redeemer, as He lay in the manger, listened with complacency to the songs of the celestial choirs, He will not fail to receive your prayers as long as you are adorned with the precious jewel of purity, (or He then regards you as if you were an angel.

He does not look upon riches, nobility, and honor as the world views these things, else He would not have summoned poor, obscure shepherds to His manger; no, He looks upon a pure heart, upon the heart that is adorned with that most precious treasure - angelic