e He has prepared for us in this world,
supplied with a prodigious variety of flowers, fruits, and animals
which He has placed at our disposal!

We were a fallen race, and He sent His Son to raise us and save us
from hell, which we merited. The Word was made flesh. He took a
body and soul like ours, thus ennobling and deifying, so to speak,
our human nature. Before ascending to His heavenly Father, after
having been immolated for us on the Cross, for fear of leaving us
orphans, He wished to remain amongst us in the Holy Eucharist, to
nourish us with His flesh, and to infuse into our hearts His
Divine Spirit as the living promise and the delicious foretaste of
the felicity and glory which He went to prepare for us in His
kingdom.

Truly, O God, You treat us not only with a paternal love, but with
an infinite respect and honour; and cannot I love and honour those
whom You have thus honoured and loved Yourself? Why do not these
thoughts inflame my charity in the fire of your Divine love? My
brethren and myself are children of God and members of Jesus
Christ. My brethren have their angels, who are companions of my
angel. One day my brethren will be my companions in glory,
chanting eternally the Divine praises. It is but a short time
since, with them, I partook of the heavenly banquet of the Most
Holy Sacrament, and to-morrow shall do so again.

XIX

EXTENT AND DELICACY OF THE CHARITY OF JESUS CHRIST DURING HIS
MORTAL LIFE

LET us now admire the charity of our Divine Saviour while on
earth.

If wine was wanting at a feast; if fishermen laboured in vain
during the night; if a vast crowd knew not where to procure food
in the desert; if unfortunate persons were possessed by devils or
deprived of the use of their limbs; if death deprived a father of
his daughter, or a widow of an only son, Jesus was there to supply
what was wanting, to give back what was lost, or to sweeten all
their griefs. Sometimes He forestalled the petition by curing
before being asked, or by exciting the wavering faith. He
generally went beyond the demands of the petitioners. He was
always ready to interrupt His meal, to go to a distance, or to
quit His solitude. Nicodemus, as yet trembling and timid, came to
find Jesus during the night, and He did not hesitate to sacrifice
His sleep by prolonging the conversation. The Samaritan woman was
not beneath His notice, although He was fatigued after a long
journey. He lavished with prodigality His