FRIDAY.

SWEET Jesus! may Thy holy love surround me, as a graceful garment, that I may not come into Thy presence unclad, but adorned with Thy grace. Raise me aloft by the power of Thy love, to divine contemplation: carry my spirit to the heights of the everlasting hills, that I be not involved in the darkness of this world, far away from Thee.

Gladden my sorrowing heart, by the wished-for presence of Thy grace. Send forth Thy most gladsome light, that my inmost soul may be renewed by its rays to joyousness of spirit. Be present in my heart, be present in my mouth, be present in every deed, and in my daily duties; for I earnestly long for Thee, and I pine away through my eager expectation of Thy coming.

O Lord, who hast entirely created and redeemed me, and hast a hundred thousand times brought me out when I was wholly lost, from the jaws of hell: give me grace to love Thee with the whole strength of my soul, because Thou hast first loved me. Inebriate me with the sober abundance of 91Thy love, that, detained here only as to my body, I may fly unto Thee, my only treasure, with a free unburdened soul.

O my Jesus, so strike, I beseech Thee, my soul with the sweetest violence of Thy love, that, overcome by holy fervour and amazement, and ravished out of itself, it may happily pass unto Thee. O Lord, may my whole spirit and body, and my very life praise Thee, that I may be an acceptable sacrifice unto Thee, every moment that I enjoy the gifts of Thy mercy.

O love that sweetly bindest and joinest all unto Thyself; O love that gently woundest and penetratest inmost souls; O love that wonderfully makest them to languish and faint in Thee; O Jesus Christ my God, come and tarry not, for continually do I desire Thee, and my spirit pants after Thee, with deep groans and piercing sighs.

Enlarge my heart, O Lord, with the immensity of Thy sweet love, and raise it to that abyss of Thy dazzling light, that by rapid contemplation it may even touch Thee, the eternal wisdom; mercifully look down upon me, struggling in the midst of the troubles of this life. Place my weary soul in the spots of that wished-for pasture, 92and by those purest streams of Thy pleasures, that quickened there by the warmth of heavenly delights, it may soon forget all its miseries.

O Thou that art every good, Christ Jesus, excite within me most ardent desires, that I may always seek after Thee, and continually sigh for the blessed abodes of my everlasting country.

O Thou that art my only salvation, may I love Thee more than myself, and myself only in Thee and for Thee. May Thy holy love overshadow me; may my soul, enticed by Thy sweetness, wholly melt away through love; and going out of itself, and passing wholly into Thee, may it taste of the crumbs of those unspeakable banquets, and the smallest drops of those incomprehensible delights, which Thou hast prepared for them that love Thee.

O my God and my all, may my soul, I beseech Thee, seek for nothing but Thee, may it even forsake itself for Thee, may it long after Thee, and be inflamed with Thy love; that, carried out of itself, and absorbed in the abyss of the riches of Thy glory, perceiving may it not perceive, and understanding may it not understand, but sleep 93entranced in Thee, and be joined to Thee by pure love. May my sighs and manifold sorrows on this earth move Thee; O my Lord, grant that meanwhile, during the toil and misery of this present exile, I may find refreshment and rest in Thee, and that whenever I shall put off this body, then may I be received into heaven by Thee. Amen.