Morning Meditation: OUR JOURNEY INTO ETERNITY – WE ARE ONLY PILGRIMS ON THIS EARTH
We have not here a lasting city, but we seek one that is to come. In this world we are not citizens, but pilgrims, for we are on our way to Eternity. Man shall go into the house of his eternity.
Meditation I:
We have not here a lasting city, but we seek one that is to come. — (Heb. xiii., 14). In this world we are not citizens, but pilgrims, for we are on our way to Eternity: Man shall go into the house of his eternity. — (Eccles. xii., 5).
Very soon, therefore, we shall have to leave this world. The body must soon go into the grave and the soul into Eternity.
Would not that traveller be guilty of great folly, who should waste his time and his wealth in building himself a dwelling in a place he must soon leave?
O my God, my soul is eternal; I must, then, either enjoy Thee or lose Thee for Eternity.
In Eternity there are two places of abode – one overflowing with every delight, the other replete with every torment. And these delights and torments will be eternal. If the tree fall to the south, or to the north, in what place soever it shall fall there shall it be. — (Eccles. xi., 3). If the soul be saved, it will be happy forever; but if it fall into hell, it will remain there to weep and lament as long as God shall be God.
There is no middle state: either a king forever in Heaven, or forever a slave of Lucifer; either blessed forever in Paradise, or in despair forever in hell.
Which of these abodes will fall to the lot of each of us? That which each one voluntarily chooses. Man shall go – Ibit homo. He who goes to hell, goes of his own free will. Every one that is damned, is damned because he wills his own damnation.
O my Jesus, would that I had always loved Thee! Too late have I known Thee! Too late have I loved Thee! O Thou, the God of my heart, and the God that is my portion forever! — (Ps. lxxii., 26).
Meditation II:
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Spiritual Reading: PRAYER, THE GREAT MEANS OF SALVATION
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Evening Meditation: THE PRACTICE OF THE LOVE OF JESUS CHRIST
“Charity beareth all things.”
HE THAT LOVES JESUS CHRIST BEARS ALL THINGS FOR HIM, AND ESPECIALLY ILLNESS, POVERTY, AND CONTEMPT
Meditation I:
But wherefore does Almighty God load us with so many crosses, and take pleasure in seeing us afflicted, reviled, persecuted, and ill-treated by the world? Is He perchance, a tyrant, whose cruel disposition makes Him rejoice in our suffering? No; God is by no means a tyrant, nor cruel; He is all compassion and love towards us; suffice it to say that He has died for us. He indeed does rejoice at our suffering, because suffering is for our good; inasmuch as by suffering here we are released hereafter from the debt of punishment justly due from us to His Divine justice; He rejoices in our sufferings because they detach us from the sensual pleasures of this world: when a mother would wean her child she puts gall on the breast in order to create a dislike in the child; He rejoices in sufferings because we give Him, by our patience and resignation in bearing them, a token of our love; in fine, He rejoices in them, because they contribute to our increase of glory in Heaven. Such are the reasons for which the Almighty, in His compassion and love towards us, is pleased when we suffer.
I love Thee with my whole heart, O my Redeemer! I love Thee, my sovereign Good! I love Thee, my own Love, worthy of infinite love. I am grieved at any displeasure I have ever caused Thee, more than for any evil whatever. I promise Thee to receive with patience all the trials Thou mayest send me; but I look to Thee for help to be faithful to my promise, and especially to be enabled to bear in peace the sorrows of my last agony and death.
Meditation II:
Morning Meditation: OUR JOURNEY INTO ETERNITY – THE FOLLY OF THOSE WHO DO NOT CONSIDER IT
O my God, the months and years pass! We are hastening towards Eternity and we do not concern ourselves to think about it! And who knows but this may be the last warning I may receive from God!
Meditation I:
Either we believe or we do not believe. If we do not believe, we are doing too much for things we regard as fables. But if we do believe, then we do too little to obtain a happy Eternity, and to avoid eternal misery.
Father Vincent Carafa said that if men thoroughly knew the Truths of Eternity, and compared the goods and evils of this life with those of the next, the earth would become a desert, because there would be none at all who would attend to the affairs of this world.
When the last moment is near at hand, how we shall tremble at the thought that on that moment will depend our eternal happiness or misery!
O my God, the months and years pass! We are hastening towards eternity, and we do not concern ourselves to think about it! And who knows but that this year or month may be my last? Who knows but that this may be the last warning I may receive from God?
O my God, I will no longer abuse Thy graces! Behold, I am ready! Make known to me what Thou wouldst have me do, and in all things I will obey Thee.
And why should we delay after so many lights and calls from God, unless we desire to lament with the damned, saying: The summer is ended, and we are not saved. — (Jer. viii., 20). Now is the time for reconciliation with God, for after death no remedy will be left.
With good reason did Father John of Avila say that Christians who believe eternal life, and live at a distance from God, ought to be shut up in an asylum as insane.
The business of Eternity is indeed important. It is not whether we shall inhabit a house more or less commodious or lightsome; but whether we shall dwell in a palace of all delights, or in an abyss of the most terrible torments. It is whether we shall be happy with the Saints and Angels, or live in despair with the multitude of the enemies of God. And for how many years? For a thousand? No; forever, forever, as long as God shall be God.
If, then, O God, I had died in my sins, should I not have lost Thee forever? If as yet, O Lord, Thou hast not pardoned me, pardon me now, I beseech Thee. I love Thee with all my soul, and I am sorry above every other evil for having offended Thee. I will never lose Thee more. I love Thee with all my heart, and will forever love Thee. Have pity on me.
Meditation II:
Spiritual Reading: PRAYER, ITS NECESSITY
I. IT IS A MEANS NECESSARY FOR SALVATION
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Evening Meditation: THE PRACTICE OF THE LOVE OF JESUS CHRIST
“Charity believeth all things.”
HE THAT LOVES JESUS CHRIST BELIEVES ALL HIS WORDS
Meditation I:
Whoever loves a person believes all that proceeds from the lips of that person; consequently, the more a soul loves Jesus Christ, the more lively and unshaken is her Faith. When the Good Thief beheld our Redeemer, though He had done no ill, suffering death upon the Cross with such patience, he began at once to love Him; under the influence of this love, and of the Divine light which then broke upon his soul, he believed that Jesus was truly the Son of God, and begged not to be forgotten by Him when He should have passed into His Kingdom.
Faith is the foundation of Charity; but Faith afterwards receives its perfection from Charity. His Faith is most perfect whose love of God is most perfect. Charity produces in man not merely the Faith of the understanding, but the Faith of the will also; those who believe only with the understanding, but not with the will, as is the case with sinners who are perfectly convinced of the Truths of the Faith, but do not choose to live according to the Divine Commandments – such as these have a very weak Faith; for had they a more lively belief that the grace of God is a priceless treasure, and that sin, because it robs us of this grace, is the worst of evils, they would assuredly change their lives. If, then, they prefer the miserable creatures of this earth to God, it is because they either do not believe or because their Faith is very weak. On the contrary, he who believes not only with the understanding but also with the will, so that he not only believes in God but has the will to believe in Him, the Revealer of truth, from the love he has for Him, and rejoices in so believing – such a one has a perfect Faith, and consequently seeks to make his life conformable to the truths he believes.
Meditation II:
Morning Meditation: OUR JOURNEY INTO ETERNITY – LET US PROFIT BY THE TIME THAT IS GIVEN US
Walk, says our Divine Lord, while you have the light, for, the night cometh when no man can work. Oh, what a torment for the poor repentant sinner at the end of a careless life when there is no time left him to do all he has left undone!
Meditation I:
Oh, what a torment for the poor repentant sinner at the end of a careless life when there is no time left him to do all he left undone! St. Laurence Justinian says that worldlings, in death, would willingly give all their riches to obtain but one more hour of life. But it will be said to them: Time shall be no more. — (Apoc. x., 6). It will be intimated to them to depart without delay: Go forth, Christian soul, out of this world!
St. Gregory relates that a certain Crisorius, being at the point of death, cried out to the demons: “Give me time until to-morrow.” But they replied, “Fool! thou hast had time, and why didst thou waste it? Now there is no more time for thee.”
Ah, my God, how many years have I not wasted! The remainder of my time shall be entirely devoted to Thee. Grant that Thy holy love may abound in me, in whom sin has so long abounded.
St. Bernardine of Sienna said that every moment of time in this life is as precious as God; because at any moment, by an act of love or contrition, we may acquire new degrees of grace.
St. Bernard says that time is a treasure to be found only in this life. In hell, the lamentation of the damned is: “Oh, if one hour were given us!” Oh, if we had but one hour in which to escape from eternal ruin! In Heaven there is no weeping; but if the Blessed could weep, it would be at the thought of having lost so much time in which they might have acquired higher degrees of glory.
My beloved Redeemer, I do not deserve Thy pity; but Thy Passion is my hope. Help me, therefore, and stretch out Thy hand to a miserable sinner, who now desires to become wholly Thine.
And who knows but that a sudden death may surprise us, and deprive us of the time for making up our accounts? The many who have died suddenly did not expect so to die; and if they were in sin, what has become of them for all eternity?
Meditation II:
Spiritual Reading: PRAYER, ITS NECESSITY
II. WITHOUT PRAYER IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO RESIST TEMPTATIONS AND TO KEEP THE COMMANDMENTS
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Evening Meditation: THE PRACTICE OF THE LOVE OF JESUS CHRIST
“Charity believeth all things.”
HE THAT LOVES JESUS CHRIST BELIEVES ALL HIS WORDS
Meditation I:
And this laxity of morals is the source whence have issued, and still issue daily, so many books and systems of Materialists, Indifferentists, Politicists, Deists, and Naturalists; some among them deny the existence of God, and some Divine Providence, saying that God, after having created men, takes no further notice of them, and is heedless whether they love or hate Him, whether they be saved or lost; others, again, deny the goodness of God, and maintain that He has created numberless souls for hell, becoming Himself their tempter to sin, that so they may damn themselves, and go into everlasting fire, to curse Him there forever!
Oh, ingratitude and wickedness of men! God has created them in His mercy, to make them eternally happy in Heaven; He has poured on them so many lights, benefits, and graces, to bring them to eternal life; for the same end He redeemed them at the price of so many sorrows and sufferings; and yet they strive to deny all, that they may give free rein to their vicious inclinations!
Meditation II:
Morning Meditation: MORTAL SIN – ITS MALICE
To understand how great is the malice of mortal sin we must first know who God is, and what a wretched being man is who dares to despise Him. Before God all the Saints and Angels are as nothing, and it is a worm of the earth who has the insolence to despise Him!
Meditation I:
What is mortal sin? According to St. Thomas and St. Augustine, it is a turning-away from God; an act of contempt for God’s grace and love, and a throwing-off of all respect for Him, by which the sinner declares to God’s very face: I will not serve Thee! I will act as I please, and, if by so doing, I displease Thee and forfeit Thy friendship, I care not!
To understand how great is the malice of mortal sin we must first know who God is, and what a wretched being man is who despises Him. Before God all the Saints and Angels are as nothing, and shall a worm of the earth have the insolence to despise Him?
But more than this. Man, by committing sin, not only despises a God of infinite majesty, but a God Who has so loved him as to die for the love of him. An eternity, therefore, would not be sufficient to bewail but one mortal sin.
He who commits mortal sin dishonours God by preferring before Him a whim, a fit of passion, a wretched gratification. A God so great and so good! And so dishonoured!
O Lord, if Thou hadst not sacrificed Thyself on the Cross for the love of me, I should lose all hope of pardon; but Thy death gives me confidence. Into thy hands I commend my spirit. — (Ps. xxx., 6). I commend to Thee my soul for which Thou hast been pleased to shed Thy Blood and sacrifice Thy life; grant that it may love Thee and never more lose Thee. I love Thee, my Jesus, my Love, and my Hope. And how shall I ever be able, after having learned how much Thou hast loved me, to separate myself from Thee, my only Good?
What an affliction it is to us to be injured by one for whom we have done much! God is not capable of grief; but could He grieve, He would die of grief and sorrow at being despised by a creature for whom He gave even His very life.
O my accursed sins, a thousand times do I detest and abhor you! You have caused me to offend my Redeemer, Who has loved me so much!
Unhappy souls, now confined in hell, you who, during life, said that sin was a slight evil, have you not to acknowledge now that all your torments are far less than what you deserved for your sins?
Meditation II:
Spiritual Reading: PRAYER, ITS NECESSITY
III. ON INVOKING THE SAINTS AND ON PRAYING TO THE SOULS IN PURGATORY
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Evening Meditation: THE PRACTICE OF THE LOVE OF JESUS CHRIST
“Charity believeth all things.”
HE THAT LOVES JESUS CHRIST BELIEVES ALL HIS WORDS
Meditation I:
The true lover of Jesus Christ keeps Eternal truths constantly in view, and orders all his actions according to them. Oh, how thoroughly does he who loves Jesus Christ understand the force of that saying of the Wise Man: Vanity of vanities, and all is vanity — (Eccles. i., 2) — that all earthly greatness is mere smoke, mire and delusion; that the soul’s only welfare and happiness consists in loving its Creator, and in doing His blessed will; that we are, in reality, no more than what we are before God; that it is of no advantage to gain the whole world, if the soul be lost; that all the goods of the world can never satisfy the human heart, that only God Himself can satisfy it; and in fine, that we must leave all in order to gain all.
My beloved Redeemer, O Life of my soul, I firmly believe that Thou art the only Good worthy of being loved! I believe that Thou art the greatest Lover of my soul, since through love alone Thou didst die, overwhelmed with sorrows, for love of me. I believe there is no greater blessing in this world, or in the next, than to love Thee, and to do Thy adorable will. All this I believe most firmly; so that I renounce all things that I may belong wholly to Thee, and that I may possess Thee alone.
Meditation II:
Morning Meditation: ABUSE OF DIVINE MERCY
God has pity on those who fear Him, but not on sinners who despise Him. To offend God because He shows us mercy, is to provoke Him in the highest degree to chastise us.
Meditation I:
God has pity on those who fear Him, but not on sinners who despise Him. To offend God because He shows us mercy, is to provoke Him in the highest degree to chastise us.
Again, to offer an insult to God, because God is a forgiving God, is to deride Him; but God is not mocked. — (Gal. vi., 7).
The devil will say to you: “But who knows? Even with this other sin it may be that you shall yet be saved.” But meanwhile, if you sin, you yourself may condemn your soul to hell. Who knows? It may be that as yet you shall be saved; but it may also happen, and more easily happen, that you may be lost. And is the affair of eternal Salvation to be risked on a who knows? If in the meantime death should come upon you! If God should abandon you after that other sin! What would then become of you?
No, my God, I will never more offend Thee. How many are now suffering in hell for fewer sins than mine? I will no longer be devoted to self, but will be Thine and entirely Thine. To Thee I consecrate my whole liberty and my will. I am thine; do thou save me. — (Ps. cxviii., 94). Save me from hell, but first save me from sin. I love Thee, my Jesus, I will never more forsake Thee.
The Fathers of the Church say that God has determined the number of sins He will forgive each one. Hence, as we know not this number, we ought to fear lest with every one more additional sin God should abandon us. This dreadful thought – Who knows whether God will any more pardon me? – ought to be a great restraint upon us and keep us from again offending God: with this fear we should be secure.
Meditation II:
Spiritual Reading: PRAYER, ITS NECESSITY
IV. ON INVOKING THE SAINTS AND ON PRAYING TO THE SOULS IN PURGATORY AND HELPING THEM BY OUR PRAYERS
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Evening Meditation: THE PRACTICE OF THE LOVE OF JESUS CHRIST
“Charity hopeth all things.”
HE THAT LOVES JESUS CHRIST HOPES FOR ALL THINGS FROM HIM
Meditation I:
Hope increases Charity, and Charity increases Hope. Hope in the Divine goodness undoubtedly gives an increase to our love of Jesus Christ. St. Thomas says that in the very moment when we hope to receive some benefit from a person, we begin also to love him. On this account, the Lord forbids us to put our trust in creatures: Put not your trust in princes. — (Ps. cxlv., 2). Further, He pronounces a curse on those who do so: Cursed be the man that trusteth in man. — (Jer. xvii., 5). God does not wish us to trust in creatures, because He does not wish us to fix our love upon them. Hence St. Vincent de Paul said: “Let us beware of reposing too much confidence in men; for when God beholds us thus leaning on them for support, He Himself withdraws from us. On the other hand, the more we trust in God, the more we shall advance in His holy love.” I have run the way of thy commandments, when thou didst enlarge my heart. — (Ps. cxviii. 32). Oh, how rapidly does that soul advance in perfection who has her heart dilated with confidence in God! She flies rather than runs; for by making God the foundation of all her Hope she flings aside her own weakness, and borrows the strength of God Himself, which is communicated to all who place confidence in Him: They that hope in the Lord shall renew their strength, and they shall take wings as eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint. — (Is. xl., 31). The eagle is the bird that soars nearest the sun; in like manner, the soul that has God for her trust becomes detached from the earth, and more and more united to God by love.
Meditation II:
Morning Meditation: VENIAL SIN
Venial sin is, unfortunately regarded as a slight evil. Is that called a slight evil which is an offence against God!
A man will go on committing venial sins, and foolishly says: “It will be enough for me to be saved!” But I answer: By continuing that course you will not be saved! For, as St. Gregory says, the soul never remains where it falls, but descends much lower.
Meditation I:
Venial sin is, unfortunately regarded as a slight evil. Is that called a slight evil which is an offence against God!
A man will go on committing venial sins, and foolishly says: “It will be enough for me to be saved!” But I answer: By continuing that course you will not be saved! For, as St. Gregory says, the soul never remains where it falls, but descends much lower.
St. Isidore writes that he who makes no account of venial sins is permitted by the Almighty to fall into mortal sins, in punishment of his little love of God. And our Lord Himself said to the Blessed Henry Suso that those who have not a horror of venial sins expose themselves to much greater dangers than they are aware of; because it thus becomes much more difficult for them to persevere in grace.
The Council of Trent teaches that we cannot persevere in grace without the special assistance of God; but he is quite undeserving of such special assistance who offends God by voluntary venial sins, and without a thought of amendment.
Chastise me not, O Lord, as I have deserved! Remember not the many offences I have committed against Thee, and deprive me not of Thy light and assistance. I desire to amend; I desire to be Thine. O Omnipotent God, accept of me and change me! This is my hope.
Our Lord said to Blessed Angela de Foligno: “Those who have been enlightened by Me to aim at perfection, but who debase their souls and walk in the ordinary way, will be abandoned by me.”
He who serves God, but is not afraid of offending Him by venial gratifications, would seem to think that God deserves no better. He declares, in fact, that God is not deserving of so much love as to oblige us to prefer His pleasure to our own satisfaction.
Habitual defects, says St. Augustine, are a kind of leprosy, which renders the soul so disgusting that God deprives it of His loving embraces.
I see, O Lord, that Thou hast not yet abandoned me, as I have deserved; strengthen me, therefore, to shake off my tepidity. I desire never more deliberately to offend Thee. I desire to love Thee with my whole soul. O Jesus, help me! In Thee do I confide.
Meditation II:
Spiritual Reading: PRAYER, ITS NECESSITY
V. THE INTERCESSION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN
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Evening Meditation: THE PRACTICE OF THE LOVE OF JESUS CHRIST
“Charity hopeth all things.”
HE THAT LOVES JESUS CHRIST HOPES FOR ALL THINGS FROM HIM
Meditation I:
The Lord God loves those who love Him: I love them that love me. — (Prov. viii., 17). He showers down His graces on those that seek Him by love: The Lord is good . . . to the soul that seeketh him. — (Lament. iii., 25). Consequently, the soul that loves God most has the greatest hope in His goodness. This confidence produces that imperturbable tranquility in the Saints which makes them always joyful and full of peace, even amid the severest trials; for their love of Jesus Christ, and the conviction they have of His liberality towards those who love Him, leads them to trust solely in Him; and thus they find a lasting repose. The sacred spouse abounded with delights, because she loved none but her Spouse, and leaned entirely on Him for support; and she was full of contentment, since she well knew how generous her Beloved is towards all that love Him; so that of her it is written: Who is this that cometh up from the desert, flowing with delights, leaning upon her beloved? — (Cant. viii., 5). These words of the Wise Man are most true: All good things came to me together with her. — (Wis. vii., 11). With Charity all blessings are introduced into the soul.
Meditation II:
Morning Meditation: THE MERCY OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN TOWARDS SINNERS WHO INVOKE HER
Mary is called the Mother of Mercy, because, like a mother, she cannot see her children in danger of being lost without giving them her assistance. She is so solicitous about the relief of the miserable that she appears to desire nothing with greater ardour than to comfort them.
Meditation I:
Consider that Mary is so merciful an advocate she not only assists all who have recourse to her, but also goes in search of the miserable in order to defend and save them. Behold how she invites us all, and encourages us to hope for every good, if we have recourse to her. In me is all hope of life and virtue. Come over to me, all ye who desire me. — (Ecclus. xxiv., 25-26). In explaining this passage, the devout Pelbart says: “She invites all, the just and sinners.” The devil, according to St. Peter, goes about continually seeking whom he may devour. — (1 Peter v., 8). But this Divine Mother, says Bernard de Bustis, goes about seeking whom she may save. Mary is called the Mother of Mercy; because, like a mother, she cannot see her children in danger of being lost without giving them her assistance. Mary pities all our miseries, and constantly seeks our salvation. And, asks St. Germanus, who, after Jesus, has greater care of our salvation, than thou, O Mother of Mercy? St. Bonaventure says that Mary is so solicitous about the relief of the miserable that she appears to desire nothing with greater ardour than to comfort them.
She certainly assists us as often as we have recourse to her, but this, adds Richard of St. Victor, is not enough for her; she anticipates our supplications, and obtains aid for us before we ask her prayers. Moreover, the same author says that Mary is so full of mercy that, as soon as she sees misery, she instantly obtains relief, and cannot behold any one in distress without coming to his assistance. It was thus she acted when she lived on this earth, as we learn from what happened at the marriage of Cana in Galilee; where, when the wine failed, she did not wait to be asked, but taking pity on the affliction and shame of the spouses, asked her Son to console them, saying: They have no wine. — (John ii., 3). Thus she induced Him to change, by miracle, water into wine. But, says St. Bonaventure, if Mary’s compassion for the afflicted was so great while she was in this world, her pity for us is certainly much greater now that she is in Heaven, where she has a better knowledge of our miseries, and greater compassion for us. Novarino adds: If Mary, unasked, shows such readiness to afford relief, how much more careful will she be to console those who ask her prayers!
Meditation II:
Spiritual Reading: PRAYER, ITS POWER
I. ITS POWER AND EXCELLENCE WITH GOD
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Evening Meditation: THE PRACTICE OF THE LOVE OF JESUS CHRIST
“Charity hopeth all things.”
HE THAT LOVES JESUS CHRIST HOPES FOR ALL THINGS FROM HIM
Meditation I:
St. Francis de Sales says: “If by a supposition of what is impossible, there could be an infinite Good (that is a God) to whom we belonged in no way whatever, and with Whom we could have no union or communication, we should certainly esteem Him more than ourselves; so that we might feel a great desire of being able to love Him; but we should not actually love Him, because love is built upon union; for love is a friendship, and the foundation of friendship is to have things in common; and its end is union.” Thus St. Thomas teaches us that Charity does not exclude the desire of the reward prepared for us in Heaven by Almighty God; on the contrary, it makes us look to it as the chief object of our love, for such is God, Who constitutes the bliss of Paradise; for friendship implies that friends mutually rejoice in one another.
The Spouse in the Canticles refers to this reciprocal interchange of goods, when she says: My beloved to me and I to him. — (Cant. ii., 16). In Heaven the soul belongs wholly to God and God belongs wholly to the soul, according to the measure of her capacity and of her merits.
Meditation II:
