Fifteenth Day
Man’s life is a struggle for good from the beginning to the end. We are taken out of wickedness by Baptism, and we are frequently redeemed by penance. We need a sacrament that will give us perseverance. “Be thou faithful unto death,” is the watchword that St. John cries out to the bishop in the Apocalypse, “and I will give thee the crown of life.” We are never sure of ourselves; even the sharpest intellect will not be able to say whether he be worthy of God’s wrath or of God’s love. Therefore Jesus Christ has applied the merits of His sacred blood to the Sacrament of Confirmation, by which we are to be made strong, by which human weakness is to be taken away. After receiving this sacrament what noble works we are capable of! In the olden ages martyrs died for Christ; mothers saw their children martyred before their eyes, all for the love of Jesus, strengthened by this sacrament. People give up the world and persevere in the heroic practice of virtue by the grace of the precious blood of Jesus.
Prayer.
Eternal Father, I offer Thee the precious blood, etc., etc.