Fuller and richer every hour grows the heavenly harmony, as part after part is taken up by the blessed choristers arriving from earth and purgatory. But for whom are reserved the richest notes in the anthem entoned with human voice by Christ Himself? Surely for those who have practised that praise even here _in hac lacrymarum valle_. Whose hearts have never been allowed even in exile to forget the tongue of fatherland. Which have leaped up day by day in the _Gloria in excelsis_ and the _Magnificat_, in the _Benedictus_ and the _Te Deum_. Which have persisted in praise when the heart was weighted heaviest, when doubt, repining, rebellion even, sought to stifle its voice. They heard the call: “_Arise, give praise in the night_”.[18] And answered: “_The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away, as it hath pleased the Lord, so is it done: blessed be the name of the Lord_”.[19] It is this praise in the night that sounds sweetest in the ear of God. It is of these His faithful servants that He says: “_They shall praise Me in the land of their captivity, and shall be mindful of My name_”.[20] What wonder that their song shall be sweetest in the City of Peace; that their voices shall mingle more intimately than the rest with hers whose heart was singing _Ecce ancilla_, even in its agony, with His Who having sung a hymn went forth to Calvary! [13] Luke ii. [14] Apoc. iv. [15] _Ibid._ v. [16] Heb. v. [17] Apoc. xxi. [18] Lament. ii. [19] Job i. [20] Baruch ii. III. “POSSUMUS.” “Can you drink of the chalice that I drink of?”--“We can.”--_Mark_ x. 38, 39. Far back in the ages before the world was, “in the beginning,” I hear the Eternal Father treating with His co-equal Son about my redemption:-- “Canst Thou for that soul and for its salvation go down from heaven and be made man?” And the Divine Word answered: “_I can_”. “Canst Thou live a life of thirty-three years, toiling and teaching and instituting Divine means for its salvation, and end that life of hardship and suffering by a death of pain and shame?” “_I can._” “Canst Thou perpetuate that Incarnation and annihilation even to the end of time; hiding Thyself under the form of bread in order to meet it on its entrance into life, to be its companion, its refuge, its food all the days of its pilgrimage?” “_I can._” “And when, O Lover of that soul, it shall meet Thy love, Thy advances, Thy sacrifices as Thou knowest it _will_ meet them, canst Thou bear with it still, supporting its coldness, its waywardness, its indifference, its ingratitude?” And Jesus said, “_I can_”. * * * * * And now my Redeemer turns to question me in my turn:-- “Can you for the sake of your salvation co-operate with Me and turn to your own profit all I have done and am ready to do for you, resolving to avoid everything that would imperil the great work we have undertaken--all grievous sin and all venial sin that leads to mortal?” What can I answer but, “O Lord, _I can_”?