Part 1, lesson 3

Of the dignity of the Christian, in whom Jesus Christ dwells, to inspire him with his dispositions and sentiments, in a word, to animate him with his own life.

Q. Christ dwells then in us?*

A. Yes, he dwells in our * Ego in vobia. Joan, xiv, 20.

hearts by faith, as St. Paul says after our Lord himself.*

Q. Have you not said that the Holy Ghost dwelt also in us ?

A. Yes; he is in us with the Father and the Son, and infuses into us, as we have said before, the inclinations, sentiments, dis positions and virtues of Christ.

Q. A Christian is then some thing very great?

A. There |s nothing greater, nothing more august, nothing more magnificent. A Christian is another Christ living upon earth.

Q. How unhappy then is he who loses these precious trea-

• Christum habitare per fidera in cordibus vostris. Epis. iii, 17.

sures by mortal sin ! But you say that Christ dwells in us, and that we are anointed with the unction with which he is himself anointed, that is, with the Holy Ghost; and that he infuses into us his dispositions, inclinations, and sentiments. How do you know this ?

A. St. Paul wishes us to have in us the same dispositions that our Lord had,* who annihilated and humbled himself upon the cross, although he was equal in every thing to his heavenly Father. '

Q. What do you mean by

• Hoc sentite in vobis, quod et in Christo Jesu. Philip, ii, 5.

having the same dispositions that our Lord had ?•

A. It is to have in one's heart and soul the same desires that he had; for example, of being humbled and crucified.

Q. Is it necessary to have these desires in the same degree of perfection in which he hail them?

A. I dp not say this; I only say that we must have similar dispositions, though not equal.

Q. Can we even have similar dispositions ?

A. Yes.

Q. By what means ?

A. By the virtue of the Holy Ghost, who can give us inclina tions, entirely opposed and con trary to those we have in the flesh by our birth from Adam.