Part 22 (2/2)

8.30. Second Meditation.

9. Spiritual Reading.

11. Adoration and Examination. Tierce.

11.30. Angelus. Dinner. Recreation.

12.15. Siesta. Absolute Silence.

EVENING.

1.30. End of Siesta. Rosary.

2. Vespers and Compline.

3. Third Meditation.

3.15. Spiritual Reading.

4.15. Matins and Lauds.

5.15. Reflections. Choir Vespers.

5.30. Examination and Prayer.

6. Supper and Recreation.

7. Litanies. Absolute Silence.

7.15. a.s.sist at Compline.

7.30. Salve Regina. Angelus.

7.45. Private Examination. Retire to rest.

”This at any rate is more practical--four o'clock in the morning is an almost possible hour, but I do not understand it, the canonical hours on this tablet do not agree with those of the monks, and then why these double Vespers and Compline? Lastly, these little points in which you are invited to meditate so many minutes, to read so many more, scarcely suit me. My mind is scarcely malleable enough to run in those channels--it is true that after all I am free to do as I please, for no one can verify what tricks I may play, can know, for instance, if I meditate....

”Ah, here is again a regulation at the back,” he went on, as he turned the card, ”the regulation for September, I need not trouble myself about it, it differs, moreover, little from the other; but here is a postscript which concerns both horaries.”

NOTE.

1. Those who are not bound to say the Breviary will say the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin.

2. The Retreatants are requested to make their Confessions at an early date, in order to have their mind more free for meditation.

3. After each meditation an a.n.a.logous chapter of the Imitation must be read.

4. The best time for confessions and the Way of the Cross is from 6-9 in the morning, 2-5 in the afternoon, and in summer from 9 in the morning till 5 in the afternoon.

5. To read the table of notices.

6. It is well to be punctual at meals to keep no one waiting.

7. The Father Guestmaster alone is charged with providing for the wants of guests.

8. Guests may ask for books for the retreat, if they have none themselves.

Confession! He saw this word only in the whole series of rules. He must at once have recourse to it. He felt a cold s.h.i.+ver down his back; and knew that he must speak to Father Etienne about it as soon as he returned.

He had not long to wrestle with himself, for the monk entered almost at once and said,

”Have you noticed anything you need, and the presence of which may be useful to you?”

”No, Father; yet if you could let me have a little more water.”

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