(2) _Silence._ Zeal for God and His work does not depend then, on words. I need not be troubled because I am not eloquent, or because I have an impediment in my speech, or because I never know what to say. How could such things matter to God, the Omnipotent God! He could alter them in a moment if necessary. The Word Himself Who could have spoken so attractively and with such power was silent for most of His life. The time He chose for His Incarnation was "while all things were in quiet silence and the night was in the midst of her course" (Wisdom XVIII. 14); and He is silent still in the Tabernacle; He loves silence, and the more the soul is interior, the more it will adopt His method of silence and the more it will understand what a marvellous help it is to zeal. How can this be? Because the silence that we choose to keep for God means shutting out all else, that we may talk to Him alone. Could there be a better method than this for making us zealous for the work so dear to His Heart? (3) _Obedience._ Think of His obedience in the womb of His Mother. His very Incarnation was an act of obedience, He waited for Mary's _Fiat_. His waiting for nine months was purely an act of obedience to the laws of nature, for His Soul and Body were perfect from the moment of His conception. All the time that He lived in Mary, He obeyed all whom she obeyed--St. Joseph, the Roman Emperor, the people at Bethlehem. He gave up His own Will to others. This was His method of being zealous. This is how He did the work that He had come to do. Can I adopt this method? It is not easy. I do so love to follow my own sweet will especially when I am working for the souls of others. I feel that no one has a right to dictate to me, that my work ought to be spontaneous, not cramped nor confined nor limited nor any other adjective that the devil can persuade me to use, if only he can make me believe that it is a blessed thing to be independent! If my zeal for God is to be worth anything, let me follow the methods of God Incarnate in the womb of His Mother and be absolutely obedient to God, to His Holy Church and to those whom I ought to obey. (4) _Poverty._ "You know the grace of our Lord JESUS Christ, that being rich, He became poor for your sakes, that through His poverty you might be rich" (2 Cor. VIII. 9). In His zeal for our wealth, He made Himself poor, He deliberately adopted poverty as one of His methods in His life of zeal. Poverty is the voluntary laying aside of all that we might have, in order that our purpose may be single. All can do this whether rich or poor, for all have much that they would rather not lay on one side, and _all_ have _self_. Let us think what the Eternal Word was as God, and then what He was in Mary's womb, and we shall understand what poverty means. If we are to be zealous in His service, we must not only understand, but copy.