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 future I will honour thee, by loving thee to the utmost of my power. Give me light and strength to do so. Thou wouldst have me be wholly thine, and such do I desire to be. Help me by thy grace; in thee do I confide. And in you also do I confide, O Mary, my mother, and my hope.

I. ST. AUGUSTIN and St.Thomas define mortal sin to be a turning away from God: that is, turning one’s back upon God, leaving the Creator for the sake of the creature. What punishment would that subject deserve who, while his king was giving him a command, contemptuously turned his back upon him to go and transgress his orders? This is what the sinner does; and this is punished in hell with the pain of loss, that is, the loss of God, a punishment richly deserved by him who in this life turns his back upon his Sovereign good. Alas! my God, I have frequently turned my back upon thee; but I see that thou hast not yet abandoned me; I see that thou approachest me, and inviting me to repentance, dost offer me thy pardon. I am sorry above every evil for having offended thee, do thou have pity on me.

II. Thou hast forsaken me, saith the Lord, thou hast gone backward. Jer. xv. 6. God complains and says: Ungrateful soul, thou hast forsaken me! I should never have forsaken thee, hadst not thou first turned thy back upon me: thou hast gone backward. O God, with what consternation will these words fill the soul of the sinner when he shall stand to be judged before thy divine tribunal! Thou mak-