Second Day

"Abide in Me."¹ This command is given, this desire expressed by the Word of God. " Abide in Me": not for a few moments, a few passing hours, but abide permanently, habitually. Abide in Me, pray in Me, adore in Me, love in Me, suffer in Me, work in Me, act in Me. Abide in Me, whatever person or action you are concerned with, penetrating ever deeper into this abode. That is the true solitude into which God draws the soul that He may speak to it. But to grasp the meaning of this mysterious appeal we must do more than listen to it superficially ; we must immerse ourselves deeply, and more deeply still, into the Divinity by means of recollection. "I follow after" exclaimed St. Paul.|| So should we descend daily by this way into the abyss, which is God Himself. Let us glide into its depths with loving confidence. "It is there, sunk to its lowest depths, that the abyss of our nothingness will find itself face to face with the merciful, the² infinite, the all-embracing God. There shall we find the strength to die to self, and, losing all self-interest, we shall be transformed into love."

" Blessed are they who die in the Lord."*