Part 1, lesson 7. Of the love of the cross, that is, of abjec tion, sufferings, and poverty, which the Holy Ghost gives us in Baptism

Q. What! are we bound to carry the cross of our Lord, and make profession of his maxims?

A. Yes; the second condition which our Lord imposes upon his disciples and all christians, is to carry his cross,* and bear with pleasure sufferings, hu miliations, calumnies, poverty etc.

• Tollat crucem suam. Matlh. xvi,2-J

Q. How can we love humilia tions, sufferings, and poverty: in a word, the holy cross of Christ?

A. We can not do it by our own strength, but by the virtue of Christ and of the Holy Spirit who is given us in baptism.

Q. How so ?

A. In Baptism, the Holy Spi rit comes to repose in us and in the bottom of our hearts, to communicate to us his holy inclinations.

Q. All this seems quite strange and contradictory.

A. True; and it is for this reason that we have such vio lent struggles to sustain.

Q. What struggles ?

A. Those of which St. Paul speaks when he says that the flesh combats against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh*.

Q. How is that ?

A. On one side, the Holy Ghost, who is in us, inclines us to contempt, poverty, and sufferings; and on the other, our flesh desires honors, plea sures, and riches. Our soul is at liberty either to adhere to the Holy Spirit, by the grace he gives us; or to oppose him, by adhering to the flesh in its own malice.

Q. You say that the Spirit

• Caro concupiscit adversxls spiritum ; spiritus autem adversus carnem : hcec enitn sibi invicera adversantur Paul, vi, 7.

of God gives us the love of suf ferings, humiliations, and pover ty; I never felt it.

A. What you say is true; you do not feel this pleasure in your flesh; you do not experience in it this joy, these delights; neither does the Holy Ghost dwell in you to produce these effects in your flesh; nor does he come to work this change in your body, but only in the bot tom of your soul.

Q. What! will the flesh ne ver take pleasure in affliction, in sufferings, and in the cross ?

A. No, unless sometimes, by an extraordinary favor, the Holy Ghost communicates to it the same inclinations that he diffuses in the soul, and makes our bodies experience the same sentiments with which he fills our hearts; but this he does rarely, and only for a time.

Q. Baptism then does not make its impression upon the body as upon the soul ; it does not regenerate the flesh, but the spirit?

A. That is true; it is our soul that receives the inspirations of the Holy Spirit; it is the soul that receives his impressions and is imbued with his senti ments; in fine, it is the soul alone that is regenerated bv baptism.