Now let us see the effects of this love. Among them first, as 1 said, that Christ took upon himself the debts incurred by our sins and made satisfaction for them. As a figure of this, Holy Scripture tells us that when the whole land of Egypt was destroyed by a plague of locusts, and Moses prayed for a remedy, God sent a burning wind that blew the locusts into the Red Sea where they were all drowned. What does this mean but what the Prophet said of our Lord, “He will put away all our iniquities : and he will cast away all our sins into the bottom of the sea”? (Mich, vii, 19). This was the Red Sea, to show us they were drowned in the sea of Christ’s precious Blood.

The second effect was that our Lord took for himself the sorrow and sufferings and gave us the fruit and merit gained by them. What follows must be told on our knees with eyes raised to heaven, for it was that the Lord did for men what a slave does for his Master. He works all day to earn money which he gives to his owner and is left unpaid for his labour. This is what our most pitiful Redeemer did for us. Could our Lord’s charity have reached further than this? Who could have done this but God, whose goodness and charity surpass our understanding?

With pleasure we welcome once more the arrival of the Vie Spirituelle in this country. It was not found wanting in the time of trial for it continued to appear throughout the occupation and has maintained its high standard. We wish it prosperity in the future and judging from the vitality of the first two numbers for 1946, it will play an important part in the work of spiritual reconstruction. Everyone knows the chaos of the present world, but few have any definite ideas as to what is to be done to remedy this state of affairs. The Vie Spirituelle tackles the problems in a most concrete and realistic way. The January number has a searching article on the nature and purpose of religious life, for the religious has to provide a concrete pattern of holiness to the world. Another article deals with the aims and methods of thè formation of seminary students. Both make fundamental suggestions and criticisms. There is also in this same number a most moving account of the charity shown by German catholics to Frenchmen conscripted for labour in Germany. As chaplains were not allowed to accompany these workers, priests went in disguise among them. The writer of the article, Fr J. Doyen, O.P., gives numerous instances of the help he was given by Germans, frequently with considerable danger to their own safety. One incident, particularly worthy of mention, records how he was able to say Mass every evening in a parish church without fear of being betrayed, although the whole parish knew about it.

From the Editions du Cerf, 229 Boulevard Latour-Maubourg, Paris—7e, we have received copies of new periodicals issued by that publishing-house, already so well-known for La Vie Intellectuelle and La. Vie Spirituelle. They include Fêtes et Saisons, Cahiers de l’Art Sacré, and La Maison Dieu, the quarterly organ of the Centre de Pastorale Liturgique (250 francs for a year’s subscription). From the same source come two new series of books, Lex Grandi and La. Clarté-Dieu. A detailed survey of these encouraging signs from France will appear in an early number of The Life of The Spirit.