Her example is like that of the Redeemer: humility, humility. _POINT III._ After her consent had thus been expressed, God, who always respects the free will of men, formed in her womb, from her virgin blood, the body of her Divine Son: “And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us” (St. John i, 14). As when he formed the body of Adam out of the slime of the earth, He breathed into his face the breath of life; so now He created the soul of Christ, and united it at once with the embryonic body to build it up to the perfection of manhood, and at the same moment God the Son assumed this humanity into substantial union with His Divine Person. This is the second step in the career of our King, again a species of self-annihilation: _Exinanivit semetipsum_. It is also an example of His love for men, of His boundless zeal for their salvation and glorification. He stooped down to earth in order to raise man to Heaven. _Colloquy_ with the Lord incarnate:—gratitude, love; promise to follow Him, to humble self, to labor for the good of souls. Ask for the help of Mary. Our Father—Hail Mary. CONSIDERATION On the Imitation of Christ The main truth that St. Ignatius inculcates, both in the meditation on the Kingdom of Christ and in all the subsequent portions of his Exercises, is that man must be perfected by imitating Christ, by making himself like to the Son of God made man, according to the words of St. Paul: “Whom God foreknew he also predestinated to be made conformable to the image of his Son, that he might be the first-born among many brethren” (Rom. viii, 29). The intense love of God, which the Saint conceived during his retreat at Manresa, prompted him to make himself as like to Christ as, with God’s grace, was possible; and the zeal for the salvation of souls, which he learned from the example of Christ, urged him to form a band of men like to himself, or rather like to the God-man, a select band to be, as it were, a bodyguard of the Divine King in the holy warfare, undertaken to establish the Kingdom of God. This is the spirit of the Society of Jesus, and of all religious Orders, and to some extent of all who wish to attain perfection. For this purpose the principal means to be used is the study of the life of Christ, which is to be the chief occupation of the exercitant during this and the following days. It is not a work of human skill, but one of the direct influence of the Holy Spirit; He alone can produce in the heart of man the supernatural likeness to the Son of God. As He sanctified St. Ignatius, so He sanctifies all those who faithfully and generously perform these exercises.