virtues or vices shall be reproduced, long after your departure from
the scene of life, in the lives of beings yet unborn, in favor of
whom divine Providence implores your compassion. What a solemn
moment! What sublime power! Have you given it serious thought?

Transport yourself, in thought, to the house of Nazareth, recall to
mind the day on which Gabriel proposed to your Queen to become the
mother of God, asking her consent to the Incarnation, by which was to
be accomplished the salvation of the world. The angel's words
astonished Mary's humility so far as to make her recoil before such a
prodigious elevation, and, to obtain her consent, it was necessary to
assure her that the Holy Ghost Himself would accomplish in her this
prodigy. Indeed, it was a most memorable moment in the world's
history,--a moment wherein the salvation of the entire human race
hung upon the word of a virgin's lips.

Now, in your present condition, at this period of your life, you
bear a certain resemblance to the Blessed Virgin at Nazareth, on the
day of the Annunciation. A glorious destiny is also announced to you;
to you also is promised a saintly posterity, if you give your consent
and concurrence to the Holy Ghost, with docility to the operation of
His grace. Be not astonished at so great an honor. The choice that
you are going to make, the course that you are going to adopt, will
determine and fix the fate of a family, of a generation,--of many
generations perhaps, for God alone can tell how far the influence of
your virtues or the result of your faults may extend.

If you have no regard for your own salvation or glory, oh, at least
have pity for those whom the hand of God will place under your care,
to be modeled by your instructions and example. Have compassion on