“Ask prudence of God, He will grant it to you, and you will recognise it in your actions.

"You will be prudent if in all your actions you seek the good pleasure and glory of God, if your aim be by your acts of virtue to gain Heaven. You will be prudent if, in order to promote the glory of God and your own salvation, you study the laws of God; if you pray to know in everything the Divine will, and if you have recourse to reflection, or take counsel with others, because you distrust yourself. You will be prudent if, in the counsels you have received, you know how to distinguish what is good from what is not good, what is useful from what is unprofitable, what befits your vocation and your strength from what surpasses them or is opposed to your state of life. You will be prudent if you know how to distinguish what is best and most suitable for leading you to your end. You will be prudent if you master your will, and oblige it to do what is good, and to do it in the best manner possible.

"Thus, My daughter, you see, prudence is exercised on exterior moral actions; there is another kind of prudence which is exercised on the inward or interior works of the soul: this is discernment. Discernment is that spiritual prudence by which, in everything which concerns the interior, the good is distinguished from the evil, the true from the false, the better from what is good; in order to do what is good and what is best, lay hold on what is true, shun evil, and reject what is false.

"Even as God in the work of creation divided the water from the land, the land from the heavens, light from darkness, so the just man, by the discernment which grace gives him, discriminates all things in

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that world which is within him, and which he moves and animates, setting everything in its place, and reserving for God that which is and ought to be God's.

"Discernment is the eye of the soul; he who is without discernment is a poor blind creature, the victim of a thousand evils which he cannot avoid because he does not see them. Discernment imparts the knowledge of what is good, what is better, what is perfect, what is evil, and what is most evil.

"Discernment makes a man know his duties toward his neighbour, towards relatives, friends, and strangers, towards the saints and the elect of God, towards the Three Persons of the Holy Trinity. Discernment makes a man know when he ought to rest and when he ought to labour, when he ought to speak and when to be silent, teaches a man the regulation of his thoughts, and their order in relation to God, to himself, and to creatures.

"In order that prudence may be complete and perfect, it must be followed by docility in hearkening to the counsels of God, the counsels of wise men, the counsels of each man's individual mind, when it is in accord with reason and the judgment of those who are wiser and more experienced.

"All the saints have practised docility, and because they were docile they were prudent, and prudence sanctified them. Moses was docile in hearkening to the counsels of Jethro, St. Paul to those of Ananias, and the first saw God face to face, the second was rapt even to the third heaven. How much more ought you to be docile, My daughter, if you desire to attain to perfection.

"In fact, there are numberless things which prudence and discernment would dictate, and the

wisest man cannot of himself perceive them all; consequently nothing is more necessary than docility in hearkening to others and doing what they advise. I do not mean by this that you ought to listen to and accept the counsels of every chance comer. No, My daughter; do not ask and do not take counsel of any but such as are mature, thoughtful, and prudent persons, who are themselves full of docility and whose speech is clear and open, free from dissimilation, vagueness, or malevolence.

"Docility will lead you to follow in everything the advice of your director, as also to disclose to him all that passes in the interior of your heart. It will lead you to give up your own judgment and conform it to his, and this docility will supply for whatever deficiency of prudence and discretion there may be in you.

"Be docile, My daughter, and be also full of solicitude to perform your actions with a good intention.

"Solicitude is the promptness of the soul in performing what prudence and discernment have shown it to be conformable with the rules of the true and the good. Solicitude is the eager ardour of the soul to do good. Nothing is more precious than this solicitude; it precludes tepidity and prevents falling into sin. See what solicitude there is among people of the world to increase their fortune, to heap up glory and honour in their path of life! They neglect nothing; they are always busy and active. And what is the glory of the world, what are the riches of earth, as compared with the glory of Heaven and the treasures of Eternity?

"Solicitude, My daughter, will lead you to do your

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good works with earnestness and carefulness, at seasonable times and in suitable places. Solicitude will make you remove obstacles and difficulties, and perform each action as though it were the last of your life.

"In fine, My daughter, that prudence may be complete and perfect, it is necessary also to have circumspection, that is to say, a fixed attention of the soul to everything relating to the action it is about to undertake, so that it may be done according to the rules of the true and the good, that all obstacles may be removed, and you may not be obliged to abandon what you have once begun.

"Without circumspection it will be impossible to do what is good; this is why, in sending My disciples to preach the good tidings of the Gospel, I said to them: 'Behold I send you as sheep in the midst of wolves; be ye therefore wise as serpents and simple as doves." By these words I desired simply to recommend to them circumspection. This is why they ought to be simple as doves, that is, do whatever I enjoined them and trust in Me; wise as serpents, that is, full of caution amidst the crimes, the vices, and the scandals they would meet with in the world. Now, the moment the serpent perceives danger, he conceals his head in order to shield it; even thus ought you, on the approach of danger, to seek shelter for your soul, that it may not be overcome. And what perils there are in the world! Satan is always ready, like a roaring lion, to devour you. The passions are always ready to be let loose. Virtue itself, in others as in yourself, becomes a stumblingblock.

How necessary then it is to keep your eyes

* St. Matthew x. 16.

open in order to discern dangers and also the means of avoiding them.

Circumspection avoids extremes; it walks in the right path where virtue is to be found; it scans, it weighs the means to arrive at the end proposed; it takes counsel in case of doubt; it is in no hurry to act; it waits for reflection and an opportune moment. Nevertheless, it does not procrastinate so as to let the occasion of doing good escape. Circumspection takes the measure of all thoughts, all words, all actions, all sentiments; it does not trust all men, or disclose what should be kept secret. Circumspection does not fear without grounds for fear, and amidst the dangers which are not of its own seeking it trusts in God and remains unmoved; it does not let itself be deceived or seduced by the exterior; it penetrates to the bottom of things, and then decides and acts. Circumspection does not give a ready credence to everything; it concedes nothing without reflection; it does not judge without reasons; it makes no promise which it cannot easily keep; it speaks little, and is seldom angered.

"O My daughter, be circumspect, be docile, be careful, study to acquire discrimination and prudence; I say this even for the good of your material and earthly life; do everything according to the will of God and His Divine Son, your Saviour God and Man in one, and the peace which will give you spiritual life, and repose in the practice of good, will give you also peace of heart."

2. Of justice towards God, our neighbour, and ourselves. "One of the most admirable virtues in the moral order is justice. It is among the moral virtues what