caresses on the children
who pressed around Him. When the crowd was so great that the poor
woman with the flow of blood could not come within reach of His
hand, He caused an all-powerful virtue to set out from Him, and a
simple touch of the hem of His garment supplied instead.

With what charming grace His benefits were accompanied! "Zacheus,
come down quickly, for I will abide this day in thy house." Who
more than He excelled in the art of making agreeable surprises? In
His apparitions to Magdalen, to the holy women, to the disciples
at Emmaus, did He not pay well for the ointment, the tears, and
the perfumes, and the hospitality He received from them? Who is
not moved with emotion when he sees his Lord preparing a meal for
the Apostles on the lake-shore, or asking Peter thrice to give him
an opportunity of publicly repairing his triple denial, "Lovest
thou Me?"

Who would not be moved when he hears what St. Clement relates
having heard it from St. Peter that our Lord was accustomed to
watch like a mother with her children near His disciples during
their sleep to render them any little service?

O Jesus! the sweetest, the most amiable, the most charitable of
the children of men, make me a sharer in Your mildness, Your love,
and Your charity.

XX

FIRST PRESERVATIVE

_How to fortify ourselves against uncharitable conversations, the
principal danger to fraternal charity_

TO meditate on what the Holy Scripture says of it: "Place, O Lord,
a guard before my mouth" (Ps. cxl.)--a vigilant sentinel, well
armed, to watch, and, if necessary, to arrest in the passing out
any unbecoming word--"and a door before my lips," which, being
tightly closed, will never let an un charitable dart escape.

"Shut in your ears with a hedge of thorns," to counteract the
tongue, which would pour into them the poison of uncharitableness,
"and refuse to listen to the wicked tongue."

"Put before your mouth several doors and on your ears several
locks"--_i.e._, put doors upon doors and locks upon locks, because
the tongue is capable, in its fury, to force open the first door
and break the first lock. "Melt your gold and silver, and make for
your words a balance"--weighing them all before uttering
them--"and have for your mouth solid bridles which are tightly
held," for fear that the tongue, getting the better of your
vigilance, will break loose and do mischief in all directions.

Considering these many barriers and formidable che