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grace and favour. Thou wouldst receive them no less mercifully thar. thou receivedst me; for as a father hath compassion on his children, so hath the Lord compassion on them that fear him. Ibid. 13. My God, thou hast broken the bonds of my sins; thou hast blotted out, with thy own precious blood, the sentence of eternal death which stood against me; thou hast snatched me almost from the brink of hell, and delivered me from the power of the devil, who has now no claim to my soul: as far as the east is from the west, so far hast thou removed my iniquities from me, (Ib. 12.) and by the mouth of thy minister thou hast desired the most unworthy of all sinners to “Go in peace." O divine Jesus! I have obeyed thy command, my heart rejoices, my soul is truly at peace, because I hope I am no longer thy enemy; because thou hast received me with mercy and forgiveness, and satisfied the first ard only desire of my heart. But, Lord! hast thou not said, that those to whom much has been forgiven, should love thee much? To whom hast thou ever remitted such ingratitude as mine?-who had ever so little claim on thy compassion, yet, at the same time, who ever experienced more of thy mercy and goodness! O! let me then love thee, at least, more than those who offended thee less, and to whom less was remitted; let me love thee unceasingly, and sincerely begin, from this happy day, to serve thee alone, and love thee above created things. O most bountiful Redeemer! so worthy of my whole heart, though thou hast mercifully forgiven me, yet I will never pardon myself;-though I firmly trust thou hast forgotten my iniquities, yet I will never forget them, but grieve over them to the last moment of my life. The more mercy and tenderness I have experienced from thee, the more reason I have to deplore my misfortune in having ever offended so good a God. This day shall be the beginning of my perfect conversion-from this moment forward, the recollection of my past ingratitude ard

hy ineflable goodness shall be ever present to my mind, and, with the assistance of thy grace, shall be a double motive for detesting sin, and faithfully observing my resolutions, which I fervently renew, and once more present to thy divine Majesty. Do not refuse to receive, O my God! the remainder of my life. I am heartily sorry for the years I have misspent ; they have gone down as a shadow; they have passed away without fruit; but as I cannot recall them, I will at least think of them in the bitterness of my soul. O! let the ardour with which I pursued a life of sin, be in future applied to thy service, that where sin hath abounded, thy divine grace may be still more abun dant. Let the change in my conduct be visible to all, and may I henceforward edify more than I have hitherto scandalized.

DIVINE Lord! vouchsafe graciously to remember thy holy thoughts from all eternity, and chiefly that tender design of becoming man for the redemption of the world. Pardon me, through the merits of these, all my vain and evil imaginations, as well as the bad thoughts I may have excited in others.

O most compassionate Jesus! I, a wretched sinner, dare to present thee all the words of salvation which have fallen from thy sacred lips, and which others have uttered, or shall hereafter utter to the glory of thy name; and I earnestly beseech thee, through these expressions, full of glory to God, and peace to men, to forgive whatever I have said offensive to thy divine Majesty, or what others, through my means, may have sinfully uttered.

Ŏ most amiable Lord Jesus Christ! remember all thy good works thou hast performed for our salvation, and through their infinite merits graciously pardon my reiterated offences against thy holy law. Mercifully direct all my thoughts, words, and actions to thy greater glory, and regulate them by the model of thy own blessed life.

O JESUS CHRIST, Saviour of the world! who invitest the sinner to return to thee, kindly receiving, refreshing, and consoling him; remember, that with thy precious blood thou wert pleased to redeem my sinful soul; to thy sacred wounds I therefore flee for refuge; and as in thy mercy thou didst pray for thy enemies, and sacrifice thy life for thy tormentors, vouchsafe to impart to me the benefits of thy sacred death and passion. Grant that I may never again crucify thee by any wilful offence, but, sincerely grieving for the past, and resolutely striving against present temptations, I may fervently persevere to the end in thy love and service. Into thy hands I commend my whole being. O Jesus, Son of David! have mercy on me.

O HOLY VIRGIN, and all ye Saints and Angels, bless and extol the Lord for his infinite mercies; beg of him to accept the confession I have made, to supply. through his goodness, for all its deficiencies, and graciously to confirm in heaven the sentence of absolution which has been pronounced upon me on earth.

OF SATISFACTION.

BEFORE you leave the chapel, perform, if possible, with the greatest devotion, or at least as soon as you conveniently can, the penance imposed on you in confession. This leads to Satisfaction, the third part of the Sacrament of Penance.

Satisfaction, as your Catechism tells you, is the performance of the prayers and other good works enjoined by the Priest to whom you confess, as a penance for your sins. It is likewise the reparation which you owe to God, or your neighbour, for the injuries done by vour offences. To satisfy for sin, to do or to suffer something in atonement for it. All

sin must be expiated by penance, either in this life or in the next, except when remitted by acts of perfect charity, or in baptism, where alone sin is forgiven without any obligation of penance. But after a Christian has ungratefully abused this first grace, and offends his Creator anew, it is just, that though he is pardoned in the Sacrament of Penance, yet, that God should require some satisfaction; lest, as St. Chrysostom says, we become more criminal by impunity. It is for this reason that Penance is imposed in the Tribunal of Confession, where Absolution remits the eternal punishment due to sin, but does not dispense from the penalties which must be suffered either here or hereafter. But, as the minister of Jesus Christ in the Tribunal of Penance, imitates rather the mercy than the justice of God in his judgment of sinners, he does not always, particularly towards youth, impose such severe penance as would authorize a penitent to look on it as a sufficient satisfaction for sin. A great deal is left to your own fervour, therefore you should never forget that your sacramental penance, though perfectly sufficient for the integrity of the sacrament, is not always adequate to the satisfaction due to God; -that satisfaction must be proportioned to the number and enormity of the offences committed. This circumstance would urge many to embrace a life of fervour and penance, if they had any idea of the rigorous penalties which God adjudges to a single transgression. Of this you may form some idea from the example of David, who by a sin of vanity, which was not in appearance very grievous, and which beside had been previously pardoned, was nevertheless punished by the loss of seventy thousand of his subjects. You may also conceive what proportionable satisfaction for sin is, by the severe penances of the primitive ages, and still more by the dreadful torments of purgatory, which far exceed all the pains that could be endured in this world, and which are reserved for those sinners whose offences have been remitted, but

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not sufficiently satisfied for in this life. Whence yɛɛ can perceive how great is the error of those who never think of doing, or suffering any thing in satisfaction for their sins; or who, at most, content them selves with the Penance enjoined in Confession; not reflecting that the infinite justice of God, which so often visibly inflicted such severe punishments on repentant and pardoned sinners, will not be satisfied with a few prayers or good works, as a reparation for so much anger and pride-so much continued negligence in spiritual duties-so many lies-disobedience -ill temper-loss of time, &c., &c. Sin is always the same, always equally hateful to God, always equally deserving of punishment proportioned to its enormity. When once it is committed, it must not only be pardoned, but likewise fully atoned for, before a soul can enter heaven. Therefore, if you be wise, you will faithfully follow the advice of St. Augustine, who counsels sinners to prevent the punishment of God by punishing themselves. Never look upon your sins as atoned for, because they have been confessed; though, on the other hand, the pain and humiliation of confessing our sins are often accepted by God as a great part of the punishment due to sin, particularly with regard to those who have great difficulties in confessing, and great courage in overcoming those difficulties. Be careful to endeavour to satisfy for your sins, and lessen the immense debt you have contracted, by embracing for this end every means within your reach; among which means, the chief are, regu lar and fervent recourse to the Sacraments, as the principal channels through which the merits of Jesus Christ are applied to our souls-great devotion to, and confidence in the death and passion of our divine Redeemer, and the holy custom of uniting not only your sacramental penance to his sufferings and infinite merits, but also every thought, word, and action of life, performing all in the spirit of penance.-Grea patience and humility in afflictions and crosses, is alse

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