May 13

Monday in Holy Week

Christ crucified. 1 Corinthians 1:23.

We are now in the Holy Week, the week we have been long looking to, the week in which He died, the only hope of the sinner; the week all have kept holy at every time, and are keeping holy everywhere; the week S. James and S. Timothy kept; the week S. Athanasius and S. Chrysostom kept; the week our own husbands and brethren and children kept who are now in heaven. We will keep it. Oh that we could keep it better than we shall! But God forgive us, we will do our best, and if we fail, poor mariners of a stormy day as we are, He Who excused those poor sleepers in the garden, He Who turned and looked on Peter, He Who bore so long with so many, will forgive it; He knoweth our frame. We will do our best.

Out of the bosom of His love He spares—

The Father spares the Son, for thee to die:

For thee He died, for thee He lives again;

O'er thee He watches in His boundless reign.

Thou art as much His care as if beside

Nor man nor angel lived in heaven or earth.

We say daily, "We are His people and the sheep of His pasture. We have erred and strayed from Thy ways, like lost sheep." Let us never forget these truths; let us never forget, on the one hand, that we are sinners; let us never forget, on the other hand, that Christ is our Guide and Guardian. Watch and pray and obey your conscience, though you cannot perceive your own progress in holiness. Go on, and you cannot but go forward; believe it, though you do not see it. Let your light shine before men, and praise God by a consistent life, even though others do not seem to glorify their Father on account of it or to be benefited by your example.