Page:Essays on Catholicism, Liberalism, and Socialism.djvu/78

respectest me as much as thou lovest me, and thou lovest me as much as thou respectest me. I know that thou wilt not abandon me to myself, because, without thy aid, I can do nothing but forget thee and lose myself: and I know that thou extendest to me a helping hand in so mild, so loving, and so tender a manner, that I do not feel its weight. Thou art as the gentle zephyr and as the strong north wind. Thou compellest me as the north wind, and I move toward thee freely, as if attracted by the gentle breeze. Thou urgest me to advance by the force of a potent impulsion, but thou dost not constrain me except by entreaty. It is I who act, and yet thou dost act in me. Thou comest to my door, and sweetly callest me, and if I do not answer, thou waitest, and again thou dost call. I know that I can refuse to admit thee, and lose myself; and I can likewise receive thee, and save myself. But I also know that I cannot answer thee if thou dost not call me, and that when I answer thee, I reply as thou instructest me; thine being the invitation, and thine and mine being the response. I know that I can do nothing without thee, that I act by thee, and that my acts are meritorious. But if I merit, it is by thy aid, as it is through thy aid I have been enabled to act. When thou rewardest me because my works are meritorious, and when I merit on account of my good works, thou givest me three graces: the grace of recompense, with which thou requitest the grace of merit, which thou gavest me, and which is the reward of the grace by which I was enabled to act through thee. Thou art like the mother, and I am as the infant, which the mother encourages to walk, extending her hand that it may do so, and when it makes the attempt embraces it, because it walks guided