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Be thou the principal subject of our reflections, and the daily entertainment of our most serious thoughts.

Disengage us, O dearest Lord! from the world and ourselves, that we be not entangled by any earthly desires.

Draw us after thee by the odours of thy divine sweetness, that we may run with delight in the way of thy commandments.

Unite us to thee intimately during this mortal life, that we may see thy face and rejoice with thee for ever in thy blissful kingdom. Glory be to the Father, &c.

Psalm VII.

WHY should our hearts still cling to the earth, when he who is the treasure of our hearts has returned to heaven?

When Jesus our glorified Saviour has gone before us, to prepare for us a place in the company of his elect;

A place of rest and secure peace, where we shall see, praise, and adore him for ever; A place of joy and everlasting fruition,

where we shall possess and love him for all eternity.

O happy we, and our poor souls, if ever admitted to that beatific vision !

If ever those heavenly gates are unfolded, and we enter into the joys of our Lord!

How will our spirits be ravished within us, to reflect on the fulness of their own beatitude! How shall we all rejoice in the felicity of each other! but how incomparably more in the felicity of God!

O heaven! towards thee we lift our languishing heads, and with stretched out hands we long to enjoy thee!

When, O thou finisher of all our hopes! when shall we at length behold that admirable light?

That light, which illuminates the eyes of angels, and renovates the youth of thy saints?

That light which is thy very self, O Lord, our God! whom we shall contemplate face to face;

Whom we shall there know as we are known; not obscurely and by faith, but perfectly, in the splendor of thy truth.

O Light! shine thou perpetually in our eyes, that thy brightness may eclipse the false lustre of this world.

O Light! shed thy fervent rays upon our hearts, that their purifying heat may consume in us all other desires;

That we may burn continually with the chaste love of thee, 'till thy own bright day appear:

'Till we be called from this vale of darkness, into the glorious presence of the living God;

To see him that made the heavens and the earth, and disposes all creation in the most beautiful order;

To see him that first gave us our being, then governed us in our path through life, and brought us at length to so happy an end.

Meanwhile, O gracious Lord! the crown of all thy saints, and only expectation of thy faithful servants,

Grant that our life may be ever cheered by the comfort of this hope, and our hopes may

be ever sustained by the assurance of thy promises.

Grant that every day we may understand more perfectly our duty, and thy infinite love;

That we may continually meditate the advancement of thy glory, and induce all creatures to sing thy praises.

Praise our Lord, O ye holy angels! praise him, O ye happy saints!

Praise him, O ye faithful departed in his grace!

Praise him, O ye living that subsist by his mercy!

Praise him, in the vast immensity of his power:

Praise him, in the admirable wisdom of his providence:

Praise him in the beneficent effects of his goodness:

Praise him in the infinitude of all his attributes.

Praise thy eternal self, O glorious Lord! and to all the felicities thou essentially possessest, may every creature say, Amen.

Glory be to the Father, &c.

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Ant. O how adorable are thy counsels, O Lord! how endearing the ways of thy love! Alleluia.

CHAP.-I. Pet. 1.

BLESSED be God, and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy, has regenerated us to a lively hope, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and pure, and which cannot fade, reserved for us in the heavens.

Нутп.

WAKE my soul, rise from this bed,
Of dull and sluggish earth:

Quickly rise, lift up thy head,

And sing thy Lord's new birth.

Once he came, O blessed he!
Born of virgin womb,

Now he comes, each time for thee,
Sprung from a virgin tomb.

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