Page:The Catholic prayer book.djvu/306

 our life  we  may  purchase  a happy  eternity. The opportunity of  enriching  or  amusing  ourselves,  we never  miss; but  the  means  of  salvation  appear  to  us indifferent.

3. The  day  which  is  best  employed  is  not  always the one  that  has  most  forwarded  our  temporal  affairs, but that  which  has  added  most  to  our  merits,  and which God  has  been  best  pleased  with. Let us always  so  regulate  our  time,  that  God  and  our  salvation may  be  our  constant  object.

[Renew the resolution  you  have  taken  to  serve  God  faithfully; and be  firmly  persuaded  that  the  time  which  is  not  employed  for God, is  no  more  than  so  much  time  lost  for  ever.]

“ God hath given  to  no  person  time  for  sinning." — Eccles.  xx.

“ You have leisure  to  become  a philosopher;  you  have  none  to become  a Christian.” — St. Paulinus.

1. The  Sacraments  are  the  channels  of  divine grace: through them  the  merits  of  Christ  abundantly flow into  our  souls. We must,  therefore,  take  care to approach  them  worthily; for  otherwise  his  merits will not  avail  us,  nor  will  our  salvation,  of  course,  be possible.

2. The  abuse  of  the  Sacraments  is  an  evil  of  the first magnitude. They were  instituted  as  the  means of eternal  life; but,  when  perverted,  they  lead  to eternal  death. There is  no  medium: they  must  be either  our  food  or  our  poison. How dreadful,  then, must it  be  to  reflect,  that  after  so  many  confessions we should  be  so  little  improved — that  after  repeated communions we  should  still  follow  the  same  sinful course.

3. The  unworthy  communicant  receives  his  own condemnation, and  becomes,  as  it  were,  incorporated with his  own  ruin. What answer  can  he  give,  when called to  account  for  his  baseness? How shall  he