The excellence of a masterpiece in painting and sculpture results from the excellent delicacy and appropriateness of every, even the smallest, detail; the beauty of a specimen of good penmanship does not result from bold dashes, but from the perfection of every single letter; and so the excellence of the life of Christ, and the lives of those who wish to become like unto Him, lies not in doing great things, but in doing everything excellently well. Few of us, if any, have occasion of doing many great things in the course of our life; but we can all, with God’s grace, do a multitude of little things well, and thus resemble our Divine model. Our crown in Heaven will not consist of some one or two magnificent jewels, as does the crown of many glorious Martyrs, but of countless little gems, each shining with its own peculiar lustre. These are the lessons we should learn from the private life of the God incarnate. THE THIRD MEDITATION On the Public Life of Christ _1st Prelude._ Recall the facts: Christ began His public labors for the salvation of souls by leaving His Blessed Mother, by being baptized among sinners, then fasting forty days. Next He travelled on foot from town to town during three years, in great poverty, through Galilee and Judea; selected ignorant men as His Apostles, instructed them most patiently, and predicted His sacred passion. _2nd Prelude._ Behold Christ, attended by His Apostles, while He addresses a miscellaneous multitude. _3rd Prelude._ Ask earnestly that you may learn from Him an intense zeal for souls and generosity in following His example. _POINT I._ Consider the grandeur of the work of saving souls. It is the noblest occupation possible, as is expressed in the maxim attributed to St. Dionysius the Areopagite: “The most Divine of all Divine works is the salvation of souls.” In fact the saving of one soul is a higher achievement than the creation of the material universe; for the value of an action is properly measured by the result achieved, and a glorified soul is as far above all bodily substances as the knowledge, love and fruition of God is above mere matter. We admire the poet who composes a grand epic, the painter or sculptor who produces a masterpiece of his noble art, the architect who erects an imposing structure, etc.; but what is all this compared to the salvation of a soul, that will be for eternity an ornament of Heaven. To Christ belongs the glory of all salvation of souls, but He deigns to share this glory with His followers, to whom He says: “I have chosen you and have appointed you that you should go and bring forth fruit and that your fruit should remain” (St. John xv, 16). What a noble object to work for! And while a soul is so precious, its salvation is to be effected in a short time. We may at times achieve this wonderful success in a single hour.