We read that the Lord accompanied His parents on a visit to the Temple in Jerusalem, and remained there unknown to them, when they had departed for their own home. It was His Father’s house, and He expressed a kind of wonder that He was expected to be anywhere else at any time. We might apply this to ourselves as well. God is Our Father; the church is Our Father’s house, and we should be found at home. Besides, Jesus is in the tabernacle; He, our Brother, is in His Father’s house, and the whole family should be gathered there. You should make frequent visits to the church, and should any one be surprised at your conduct, and ask you the reason, you can answer with justice: “Am I not to be about the things that are my Father’s?” Go to your work, be in your home, but also love to pass some time in the presence of the Lord in the church. The angels are there, silently praying before their God in the tabernacle; join them in their devout occupation. You like to visit a friend; no nearer nor dearer friend will you ever find than Jesus, your loving Saviour. Prayer. O Jesus, Thou knowest my desire of serving Thee with the purest intention of living but for Thee. Thou art my hope, my strength, and my life. I will seek not so much for consolation as for the grace of a greater love towards Thee, my sweet Saviour, and for strength to suffer bravely for Thy greater glory and my own sanctification. Amen. Eighteenth Day. From your early childhood you have been brought to the church. Even before you knew what church meant you trotted along with the other children, and sat in your pew and knelt with the rest, not knowing how to pray, not knowing what you were about. But afterwards you began to understand that you were going to a holy place, where sacred things were performed: things that reminded you of heaven, even while you were still on this earth. When you were made a Christian by Baptism, then you were introduced into the mystic body of the Church, and you also received the right to stand in the material temple of the Lord, and take your place among the many members of the Christian people. The Church has become your home, a place of happiness and consolation in all your afflictions. But do we use it as such? Do we go with all our trials and temptations to our sweet Lord, hidden in the tabernacle, Who is there waiting and anxious to console us in our miseries? Prayer. My dearest Jesus, how much hast Thou not done to oblige me to love Thee, and how much hath it cost Thee to gain to Thyself my love? Pierce my poor soul, O dearest Jesus, with the sweet dart of Thy love, so that I may ever languish with desire of Thee. Amen. Nineteenth Day.