Let me make one last examen on myself here. Do I feel sometimes that my influence on others is very small, that my light seems to be hidden under a bushel, that try as I will, I cannot make any impression? May it not be that I am thinking too much about the shining of the light and too little about the burning? The candle must _burn_ before it can _shine_. If my heart is in constant touch with the Sacred Heart of JESUS it will burn with His love and zeal, and the shining will follow as a matter of course, I need not trouble about it; but if I allow anything to separate my heart from His, even ever so little, the fire in my heart will die down; there may be a little glow left, unless I leave it too long, but there is not enough to "shine before men." "What went you out to see?" What answer would those with whom I live, those who know me best, have to give? _Colloquy_ with JESUS and St. John the Baptist. _Resolution._ To win the approval of JESUS to-day by the way in which I prepare for His Coming. _Spiritual Bouquet._ "What went you out to see?" "INCARNATUS EST" Regem venturum Dominum venite adoremus. [Come let us adore the King our Lord Who is to come.] _1st. Prelude._ Picture of the Annunciation. _2nd. Prelude._ Grace to understand the mystery of the Incarnation. POINT I. VENITE ADOREMUS. "Come let us adore the King our Lord Who is to come." These are the opening words of the Invitatory which the Church uses every day at Matins during the first fortnight of Advent. Let us turn then from the Precursor, who has taught us so many lessons, to JESUS Christ Himself. What is He doing during these months of waiting before Christmas? He, too, is preparing, preparing for the work for which He has already come into the world, although He is not yet manifest. John the Baptist has pointed Him out to me: "Behold the Lamb of God!" Now I will do what his disciples did--leave "the Friend of the Bridegroom" for the Bridegroom Himself. He has become incarnate for me; it behoves me then to keep as close to Him as possible, to love Him with all my heart and to copy Him as far as I can. He is God and therefore there can be nothing imperfect about Him; from the first moment of the Word being made flesh in the womb of His Mother till "she brought forth her first-born Son" on Christmas day, His faculties, His reason, His intelligence, His sensibilities were all in a state of perfection; He knew the past, the present, and the future; and He, the Source of grace, was pouring forth grace on all around Him. Directly we understand this, we feel that we must draw near, not only to adore but to sympathize, to wonder, to love, to learn, to imitate. For those who understand the Incarnation, His work did not begin on Christmas Day, but on the Feast of the Annunciation, when Mary said: "Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it done unto me according to Thy word." What happened at that moment? The Holy Ghost