_ 84 _ generation to generation, when the Lord was pleased to set up this Society through our Holy Father Ignatius and the others. Oh, Father Simão, how much I owe to you in the Lord; oh Fathers João de Aragão and Manuel de Morais, what can I repay the Lord for all the things he has given me? I can only be amazed and weep. If I say this of myself, what will the angels of Coimbra say of themselves? Blessed be the hour in which you entered the Society of Jesus Christ! Oh, holy plant, set in the proper knowledge of self in Christ and watered with His precious blood, shed for Martyrs, sought by Confessors, guarded by Virgins, venerated by the Angels, loved by the Father, directed by the Holy Spirit, named and possessed by Christ! Although, holy Society, you appear to be a new plant, you are most strong because you are transplanted in the poverty of Christ; its roots extend to the sea, and its shoots to the river, the sea is the world, the river is love of one’s neighbour, Paradise is the contemplation of God. He who does not follow the Christ of our salvation and the crucified of the world, may he be anathema. What communion hath light with darkness? Praise the Lord, brothers, praise the name of the Lord, may the name of the Lord be blessed for this now and forever.
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