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122 lying out of the furrow in which we are, each one, set to guide the plough. Who can measure the value of a priest's time? If the time of all men is full of eternity, the time of a priest is full not of his own eternity only, hut of the eternity of multitudes both known and unknown to him. We will try, then, to measure its value.

1. The first measure of the value of our time is the Holy Mass. The first-fruits of a priest's time belong to God, and they are offered every morning in the Holy Mass. Half an hour of preparation and half an hour of thanksgiving ought never to be given up to any other use or purpose, for they are not ours to give away. This is the first measure of the value of our time. In it we speak with God, commune with our Divine Master, and give thanks to the everblessed Trinity. What should be the fervent use of the hours of a day that is so begun? The fragrance and the fervour of it ought to be upon us all day long, pervading it with a sense of our relation to our Master in heaven, and teaching us to be as avaricious of time, as impatient of its loss, and as watchful in guarding it from being stolen from us as the world is of its money. God so values time that He gives it to us only day by day, hour by hour, moment by moment. And He never gives us a