Oh adorable Face, bathed with sweat in thy journeys, have pity on us.

The moment is come for Jesus to leave Mary, to renounce the peaceful solitude of Nazareth, and to traverse the world in order to announce the tidings of salvation. The Holy Face will not he spared suffering— the inclemency of the seasons, the heat of the sun, the dust of the road, contempt and derision on the part of the Pharisees and of the impious. Thou hast known all these sufferings, oh adorable Face of Jesus, long before applying to thy lips the chalice of the Passion.

1st POINT. — SUFFERINGS OF THE HOLY FACE DURING THE JOURNEYS OF JESUS.

All has been regulated by eternal Wisdom. It is to the children of the kingdom that belongs the first and most excellent portion of the festival. To procure them the benefits of the Gospel, Jesus did not shrink from any pain, any fatigue. Oh ye dusty roads of Galilee and of Samaria, steep paths of the mountains of Judea, burning sands of the shores of Jordan and of the lake of Tiberius, what sweat have you not seen stream down the adorable Face of our Savior! Oh Sun, at least veil the splendor of thy ardent beams before thy creator! Dark night, delay a little thy course, and permit the Messiah to taste for a few moments the refreshment of a restorative repose! But he who has not a stone whereon to lay his head, how can he hope for rest upon earth? His soul burns with a thirst which devours him, and makes him forget the necessities of his holy humanity. He runs, he flies, the divine Apostle, to the conquest of souls, and his sweat, bathing his face, flows down upon the land of Israel, the image of our soul, to fructify it and make it bear the fruits of salvation.

Meditate, oh Christian, upon the source of so much generosity, and comprehend the love of Jesus for thee.

2nd POINT. — THE SUFFERINGS OF THE HEART OF JESUS.

But the sweat which covered the Face of Jesus would have been sweet to him, and his weariness would have been consoling, if they had not proved sterile for the majority of men. Wherefore was it necessary, oh Jesus, that the sufferings of thy divine soul should surpass the physical sufferings of thy sacred body? Good shepherd, thou dost ceaselessly hasten to search after thy rebellious and wandering sheep; thou dost pursue them with thy tenderness, with thy tears and with thy love; thou dost gently call them and invite them to come back to thee. At their approach thy heart thrills with gladness, it trembles with sorrow and fear when it sees them escape once more from thy divine embrace. Oh adorable Face, whose expression and whose modesty attracted both the just and sinners, show thyself to these faith-less and ungrateful souls. Oh adorable Face of Jesus, show thyself to my soul: enchain me to thee by thy victorious eye, teach me to love poor sinners also; give me a share in the burning thirst which consumes and devours thee. Captive to thy love, I will labor by my prayers, by my good example, my sacrifices and all my efforts to gain hearts for thee, to urge souls, bought by thy most precious blood, into thy heavenly fold and into the nets spread for them by thy tenderness.

SPIRITUAL BOUQUET

Sitio!

I thirst for the salvation of souls. (John, xix.)

THE NOVITIATE OF SISTER SAINT-PIERRE.

The first interior attraction which was felt by the new postulant was that of a tender devotion towards the holy infancy of Jesus. Let us permit her to explain how she was solicited by grace even before she had assumed the Carmelite habit.

“When I was as yet only a little child in religion at the Carmel, Our Lord made me apply myself in a very special manner to his holy infancy, and he made me to know what he desired I should do to honor him in this state. Thus, he traced in my mind, for every day in the month, an exercise which I practiced with great consolation, and, I believe, with much profit to my soul. I looked upon myself as the little servant of the Holy Family, and I offered myself to it in this quality, ardently desiring to wear its liveries when taking the holy habit of the Carmel. I begged my reverend mother to be so good as to grant me this favor, spite of my unworthiness. It was bestowed upon me on the 21st May 1840, in that blessed month consecrated to her to whom I owed the grace of so beautiful a vocation. I consecrated myself wholly to the Holy Family on that day of joy and blessing. This is the consecration which I wrote and which I placed on my heart during the ceremony— “Oh Jesus, Mary and Joseph, most holy and illustrious family, deign on this day, spite of my unworthiness, to receive me as your servant; it is the great desire of my heart; deign to grant my prayer. I am firmly resolved to be faithful to you, and if I cannot as yet engage myself in your service by the three religious vows, at least receive my desire, and give me grace to accomplish them as faithfully as though I had already made them. Oh most holy Infant Jesus, grant me to be as submissive to the Holy Spirit and to my superiors as you were to the most blessed Virgin and to St Joseph. And you, oh Mary, conceived without sin, and all pure in the eyes of God, obtain for me grace never to do anything which might tarnish the splendor of the beautiful virtue of purity. Oh blessed patriarch St Joseph, who didst practice purity in so holy a degree of perfection, and who didst sacrifice thyself for the holy Infant Jesus and his mother the divine Mary, grant by means of your powerful influence with God that, following your example, I may practice holy poverty to the latest moment of my life, and that I may always feel it to be a duty and a sweet pleasure to sacrifice myself for my sisters. Lastly, oh Holy Family, grant that I may indeed glorify myself for being your very humble servant. Deign to receive me on this beautiful day and to give me a proof that you accept my services, by granting me grace to acquit myself worthily in saying the divine office; grant that I may recite it with attention, respect, love, fervor and devotion; grant that I may be as wakeful at Matins as though I were in heaven dazzled by the beauty of God and the splendor of his glory! Amen’”

PRAYER OF M. DUPONT.

Oh Almighty God, Father eternal, look on the Face of thy Son Jesus; we present it to thee with confidence to implore our pardon. Merciful advocate, he opens his mouth to plead our cause; listen to his cries, behold his tears, oh my God, and, because of his infinite merits, listen to him when he intercedes for us, poor and miserable sinners. Amen.