these cases the person who makes this holy use of the worldly goods which GOD has given him, has a share, according to our Lord's rule, in all the good that is done to His honour in the church or convent or school or college, or in any other work of a like kind, which he has helped to found. And as the work goes on for generation after generation, the founder, or the souls to whose benefit he may wish to apply its satisfactory power, will continue to enjoy his share. If he be in Heaven, he will have an accidental increase of joy for all that is done; if he or they be in Purgatory, it cannot be doubted that his soul or theirs will be greatly and continually relieved, and the time of their deliverance hastened on, by the service to GOD which is daily and hourly accruing in such places as those of which we have been speaking. GOD Himself, and all the Court of Heaven, the Blessed Virgin and the saints and angels, as well as the Church upon earth and her children, are his debtors, who will certainly not forget the obligations, and who are very powerful in their means of payment and very prompt in using them. The best works that can be done for the Church are those which 'most directly contribute to the worship of GOD and the preaching of the Gospel, and those also which last on generation after generation. We see in all this the holy wisdom and considerate charity and prudence of ancient times, when the foundation of convents or colleges or schools, or the building of churches or of chapels in churches was a favourite work of piety, very often indeed undertaken with a distinct and definite purpose of providing for the relief of the souls in Purgatory.

4. Here, then, is a very practical point of teaching concerning the way in which we may benefit those dear to us, for whose souls we are anxious to obtain the speedy mercy of GOD. The erection of an altar in their memory, or the foundation of Masses, or the contribution to the maintenance of a priest, especially in parts of the world where the Church is most in need of support from a dis

tance, and in countries where it is possible for a very small annual sum to keep a mission alive, and so to contribute to the service of the altar under circumstances which promise exceptionally large returns for any labour or alms that are spent upon them-these and other similar ways of helping the holy sufferers are suggested by the miracle before us. It must be remembered that any one who procures the celebration of a Mass which would not otherwise be celebrated, does not benefit alone his own soul or the soul for whom the Mass is offered or that of the priest who offers it, but the whole Church of GOD in Heaven, on earth, and under the earth. This is a good deed which rejoices GOD and the saints and angels, as well as the living and the dead, and it is no wonder if the prayers and interests of such a person are assisted by the intercessions of all Heaven.

“

5. But there is another and very beautiful lesson to be learnt from this good centurion, which illustrates one of the most suggestive points in the whole doctrine concerning Purgatory and its prisoners. This lesson is contained in the words to which reference has already been made: "Lord, I am not worthy that Thou shouldest enter under my roof, but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed." These words should be put by the side of other expressions of the same kind, which are among those breathings of the Holy Ghost which seem most clearly to interpret the words of St. Paul, when he says that the Holy Spirit of God prays in us and moulds, as it were, our petitions, so as to make them the prayers which are acceptable to our Heavenly Father. They are to be set by the side of the cry of the publican of whom our Lord speaks, who would not so much as lift his eyes to Heaven, but smote his breast, saying, "God be merciful to me a sinner." They belong to the same class as the words of St. Peter in the ship—“ Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord." They remind us of the answer of the Syrophoenician woman, "Yea, Lord, the dogs cat of the

crumbs which fall from the masters' table." These are . the petitions which have so much power over our Lord's Sacred Heart. We are told by holy writers on the subject of Purgatory, especially by St. Catharine of Genoa and those who have followed her, that the Holy Souls have so deep a sense of their own unworthiness to meet the eye of GOD in Heaven, before they are perfectly purged from the imperfections which are consumed in the fire of Purgatory, that they would shrink back from His Presence if it were offered them to pass into their destined Beatitude before the time. So intense is their love of GOD, and so entirely does that affection overrule or absorb any other, such as the desire of their own happiness, that for His sake and for the sake of the holiness which becometh His courts, they cannot bear to think of anything that is unfit being presented there.

6. We cannot doubt that this beautiful humility of the centurion made our Lord all the more ready and eager to help him; and that it was one of the fruits of his very keen and penetrating faith, which made him see the dignity of our Lord's Person far more clearly than many others who approached Him with similar petitions. So in the same way, the intense humility of the Holy Souls, which is founded on their charity, is one of the causes for which our Lord's Sacred Heart yearns after them with so extreme a love. We may, then, add this to the other motives which we have already considered as incentives to our own charitable exertions for the relief of these Holy Souls, which all tend to their speedier purification and to the hastening of the moment when the desires of our Lord's Heart may be satisfied in them.

Other Sheep I have which are not of this Fold.*

Ar length within the fold

The wandering sheep found rest;
Close to the Shepherd's side

In wondering love they pressed.

Long had they heard His voice

Call faintly through the night;
And followed from afar

His dimly guiding light.

Oft had they felt his touch
Fill them with joyous dread;
And so they followed on,
Unknowing where He led.

And now their joy is great,
All doubt and error past;
Secure within the Fold

They see His Face at last.

The Perpetual Adoration, Limerick.

IN a retired part of our city, adjoining the far-famed school of the Faithful Companions of JESUS, Laurel Hill Avenue, stands the Convent of the Perpetual Adoration of the Most Holy Sacrament. As this community is of recent origin, and as reparation to the Sacred Heart of JESUS, wounded in the Sacrament of His love, forms a pre-eminently distinctive feature of the new Institute, a passing sketch of its history, and the motives which led to its foundation may find a place in the pages of the MESSENGER OF THE SACRED HEART, and not prove uninteresting to the reader.

When, towards the close of the eighteenth century, liberty and peace had been in some measure restored to the suffering and persecuted Church of Ireland, it was natural to expect that in a country where proselytism was making such desperate efforts, the spiritual destitution of the people should engage the first attention of its pastors, and that religious institutions devoted to active works of mercy should receive at once their warmest and most cordial support. Thus many contemplative orders then in Ireland deemed it, under such circumstances, a higher and holier calling to share the activity of Martha, and to gather around them the poor little ones of Christ than to kneel, like Mary, in silent prayer at His feet. Whilst Italy, France, Germany, and Belgium saw arise in their midst communities and confraternities devoted to the honour of the Most Holy Sacrament, whilst even Protestant England could name its several cities wherein the Spouses of Christ kept watch, hour after hour, before the lonely Dweller of the Tabernacle, Ireland could not point