Morning Meditation: THE DAY OF THE LAST JUDGMENT
That day is a day of wrath . . . a day of calamity and misery. — (Soph. i., 15).
On the Last Day will be verified the prediction of St. John: And they say to the mountains and to the rocks: Fall upon us and hide us from the face of him that sitteth upon the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb. — (Apoc. vi., 16).
Send forth O Lord, the Lamb, the Ruler of the earth Who by sacrificing Himself shall satisfy Thy justice for us, and so reign in the hearts of men. O Lamb of God, pardon me before the arrival of that day on which Thou shalt judge me.
Meditation I:
The Last Day is called in Scripture a day of wrath and misery; and such it will be for all those unhappy beings who have died in mortal sin; for on that day their most secret crimes will be made manifest to the whole world, and themselves separated from the company of the Saints, and condemned to the eternal prison of hell, where they will suffer all the agonies of ever dying yet always remaining alive. St. Jerome, in the Cave at Bethlehem, devoted to continual prayer and penance, trembled at the bare thought of the General Judgement. The Ven. Father Juvenal Ancina, hearing that Sequence for the Dead sung, Dies ire, dies illa, was so struck with the anticipation of Judgment that he left the world and embraced the Religious life.
O Jesus! what will become of me on that day? Shall I be placed on Thy right hand with the Elect, or on Thy left with the reprobate? I know that I have deserved to be placed on Thy left, but I know also that Thou wilt still pardon me if I repent of my sins: therefore do I repent of them with my whole heart, and am resolved rather to die than offend Thee any more.
Meditation II:
As this will be a day of calamity and terror for the reprobate, so will it be a day of joy and triumph for the Elect; for then, in the sight of all mankind, will the blessed souls of the Elect be proclaimed queens of Paradise and spouses of the Immaculate Lamb.
O Jesus! Thy precious Blood is my hope. Remember not the offences that I have committed against Thee, and inflame my whole soul with Thy love. I love Thee, my sovereign Good, and I trust that in that day I shall be associated with those loving souls who will praise and love Thee for all eternity.
Choose, my soul; choose now either an eternal crown in that blessed kingdom, where God will be seen and loved face to face in the company of the Saints, of the Angels, and of Mary, the Mother of Jesus; or the prison of hell, where you must weep and lament for ever, abandoned by God and by all.
“O Lamb of God that takest away the sins of the world, have mercy on us!” O divine Lamb, Who, to deliver us from the pains of hell, wast pleased to sacrifice Thy divine life by a bitter death upon the Cross, have compassion on us; but more particularly upon me who have more than others offended Thee. I am sorry above every evil for having dishonoured Thee by my sins, but I hope on that day to honour Thee before men and Angels, by proclaiming Thy mercies towards me. O Jesus! help me to love Thee; I desire Thee alone. O Mary, holy Queen! protect me on that day.
Spiritual Reading: THE NATIONS IN THE VALLEY OF JOSAPHAT
St. Jerome spent his days in the Cave of Bethlehem in prayer and penance, and trembled at the thought of Jesus coming at the Last Day to judge the world.
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Evening Meditations: THE GOODNESS OF GOD IN THE WORK OF THE REDEMPTION
Meditation 1:
And He was incarnate by the Holy Ghost . . . and was made man. — Nicene Creed.
Consider that God, having created the first man to serve Him and love Him in this life…
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Evening Meditation 2:
Here pause to consider, on the one hand…
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Morning Meditation: GOD DISHONOURED BY SIN
Previous to the coming of our Redeemer, the whole unhappy race of mankind groaned in misery upon this earth: all were children of wrath, nor was there one who could appease God, justly indignant at their sins. O God of Mercy, lest Thy Divine Wisdom might reproach us with our offences against Thee, Thou hast hidden it under an infant’s form! Thou hast concealed Thy Justice under the most profound abasement that it might not condemn us!
Meditation I:
Consider how sin dishonours God. By transgression of the law thou dishonourest God — (Rom. ii., 23), says St. Paul. When the sinner deliberates whether he shall give or refuse his consent to sin, he takes the balance into his hands to decide which is of greater value – the favour of God, or some passion, some worldly interest or pleasure. When he yields to temptation, what does he do? He decides that some wretched gratification is more desirable than the favour of God. Thus it is that he dishonours God, declaring, by his consent, that a miserable pleasure is preferable to the Divine friendship. Thus, then, O God, have I so many times dishonoured Thee, by esteeming Thee less than my miserable passions!
Of this the Almighty complains by the Prophet Ezechiel, when He says: They violated me among my people for a handful of barley and a piece of bread. — (Ezech. xiii., 19). If the sinner should exchange God for a treasure of jewels, or for a kingdom, it would indeed be doing a great evil, because God is of infinitely more value than all the treasures and kingdoms of the earth. But for what do so many exchange Him? For a vapour, for a little dirt, for a poisoned pleasure, which is no sooner tasted than it is fled. O God, how could I have had the heart, for such vile things, so often to despise Thee, Who hast shown so much love for me! But behold, my Redeemer, how I now love Thee above all things; and because I love Thee, I feel more regret for having lost Thee, my God, than if I had lost all my other goods, and even my life. Have pity on me, and forgive me, I will never more incur Thy displeasure. Grant that I may rather die than offend Thee any more.
Meditation II:
Spiritual Reading: THE JUDGMENT AND THE SENTENCE
Evening Meditation: JESUS CHARGED WITH THE SINS OF THE WHOLE WORLD
Meditation I:
Meditation II:
Morning Meditation: THE GREAT AFFAIR OF SALVATION
Consider that our most important affair is that of our eternal salvation. Upon our eternity depends our happiness or misery for ever. Whether we shall live for ever happy or for ever miserable.
Before man is life and death . . . that which he shall choose shall be given him. — (Ecclus. xv., 18).
Oh, let us make such a choice now as we shall not have to regret in eternity.
Meditation I:
The affair of our eternal salvation is of all affairs the most important. But how comes it that men use all diligence to succeed in the affairs of this world, leave no means untried to obtain a desirable situation, to gain a lawsuit, or to bring about a marriage; reject no counsels; neglect no measures by which to secure their object; neither eat nor sleep, and yet do nothing to gain eternal salvation – nothing to gain it, but everything to forfeit it, as though Hell, Heaven, and Eternity were not Articles of Faith, but only fables and lies?
O God! Assist me by Thy divine light; suffer me not to be any longer blinded, as I hitherto have been.
If an accident happen to a house, what is not immediately done to repair it? If a jewel be lost, what is not done to recover it? The soul is lost, the grace of God is lost, and men sleep and laugh! We attend most carefully to our temporal welfare, and almost entirely neglect our eternal salvation! We call those happy who have renounced all things for God; why then are we so much attached to earthly things?
O Jesus! Thou hast so much desired my salvation as to shed Thy Blood and lay down Thy life to secure it; and I have been so indifferent to the preservation of Thy grace as to renounce and forfeit it for a mere nothing! I am sorry, O Lord, for having thus dishonoured Thee. I will renounce all things to attend only to Thy love, my God, Who art most worthy of all love
Meditation II:
Spiritual Reading: MENTAL PRAYER: I. – Its Importance
Evening Meditation: THE LOVE OF GOD FOR MEN
Meditation I:
Meditation II:
Morning Meditation: THE GREAT THOUGHT OF ETERNITY
Man shall go into the house of his eternity. — (Eccles. xii., 5)
He who builds a house for himself takes great pains to make it commodious, airy and handsome, and says: “I labour and give myself a great deal of trouble about this house, because I shall have to live in it all my life.” And yet how little is the House of Eternity thought of!
Meditation I:
Thus did St. Augustine designate the thought of eternity: “The Great Thought” – Magna Cogitatio. It was this thought that induced so many solitaries to retire into deserts; so many Religious, even kings and queens, to shut themselves up in cloisters; and so many Martyrs to sacrifice their lives in the midst of torments, in order to acquire a happy eternity in Heaven, and to avoid a miserable eternity in hell. The Blessed John of Avila converted a certain lady with these two words: “Reflect,” said he to her, “on these two words: Ever and Never.” A certain monk went down into a grave that he might meditate continually on Eternity, and constantly repeated, “O Eternity! Eternity!”
How frequently, my God, have I deserved the eternity of hell! Oh, that I had never offended Thee! Grant me sorrow for my sins; have compassion on me.
The same Blessed John of Avila says, that he who believes in eternity and becomes not a Saint should be confined as one deranged. When we shall have arrived at eternity there will be no question of our residing in a house more or less commodious, or more or less airy: the question will be of our dwelling in a palace overflowing with delights, or in a gulf of endless torments. And for how long a time? Not for forty or fifty years, but forever, as long as God shall be God. The Saints, to obtain salvation, thought it little to give their whole life to prayer, penance, and the practice of good works. And what do we do for the same end?
O my God! Many years of my life are already past; already death is near at hand, and what have I hitherto done for Thee? Give me light, and strength, to devote the remainder of my days to Thy service. Too much, alas! have I offended Thee; I desire henceforth to love Thee.
Meditation II:
Spiritual Reading: MENTAL PRAYER: II. – Its End and Object
Evening Meditation: THE WORD WAS MADE MAN IN THE FULNESS OF TIME
Meditation I:
Meditation II:
Morning Meditation: PORTRAIT OF A MAN WHO IS BUT A SHORT TIME GONE INTO THE HOUSE OF HIS ETERNITY
Under thee shall the moth be strewed and worms shall be thy covering. — (Is. xiv., 11).
The moment the soul leaves the body it shall go into eternity and the body shall return to dust. The same lot awaits all, nobleman and peasant, prince and vassal. Thou shalt take away their breath, and they shall return to their dust. — (Ps. ciii., 29).
O my God, I will no longer resist Thy calls.
Meditation I:
Consider that thou art dust and that thou shalt return to dust. A day will come when thou shalt dies and rot in a grave where worms shall be thy covering.
Imagine that thou beholdest a person who has just died. Look at that body lying on the bed, the head fallen on the chest, the hair in disorder and still bathed in the sweat of death, the eyes sunk, the cheeks hollow, the face the colour of ashes, the lips and tongue like iron, the body cold and heavy. The beholders grow pale and tremble. How many at the sight of a deceased relative or friend have changed their lives and retired from the world!
Still greater horror will be excited when the body begins to putrify. Twenty-four hours have not elapsed since the death of that young man, and his body already sends forth an offensive smell. The windows must be opened, and to prevent the communication of disease to the entire family, he must soon be transferred to the church and buried in the earth. “If he has been one of the rich and noble of the world, his body shall send forth a more intolerable stench,” says St. Ambrose.
Behold the end of that proud, that lewd, voluptuous man! Before his death, desired and sought after in conversation, and now become and object of horror and disgust to all who behold him! His relatives are in haste to remove him from the house. They hire men to shut him up in a coffin and carry him to the churchyard and throw him into a grave!
O Jesus, my Redeemer, I thank Thee for not having taken me out of life when I was Thy enemy. For how many years have I deserved to be in hell! Had I died on such a day or such a night, what would be my lot for all eternity? Lord, I thank Thee! I accept my death in satisfaction for my sins and I accept it in the manner in which Thou wilt be pleased to send it. But since Thou hast borne with me till now, wait for me a little longer. Suffer me, therefore, that I may lament my sorrow a little. – (Job x., 20). Give me time to bewail my offences before Thou dost judge me. I will no longer resist Thy calls. Who knows but the words I have just read may be the last call for me! Behold the penitent traitor who has recourse to Thee. A contrite and humble heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. — (Ps. 1., 19).
Meditation II:
Spiritual Reading: MENTAL PRAYER: III. – Its Place and Time
Evening Meditation: THE ABASEMENT OF JESUS
Meditation I:
Meditation II:
Morning Meditation: THE UNHAPPY LIFE OF THE SINNER
There is no peace to the wicked, saith the Lord. — (Is. xlviii., 22).
No, the world with all its goods cannot content the heart of man. He was created, not for them, but for God alone. Hence God alone can make man content and happy, and give that peace which the world cannot give.
Meditation I:
In this life all men seek after peace. The merchant, the soldier, the man who goes to law – all labour with the hope of making a fortune and of thus finding peace by worldly lucre, by a more exalted post, by gaining the law-suit. But poor worldlings seek from the world the peace that the world cannot give. God alone can give peace, as the Holy Church proclaims in the following words: “Give to Thy servants that peace which the world cannot give.” No; the world, with all its goods, cannot content the heart of man; for he was created, not for them but for God alone: hence God alone can make him happy and content. Brute animals, that have been made for sensual delights, find peace in earthly goods: give to an ox a bundle of hay, and to a dog a piece of flesh, and they are content, they desire nothing more. But the soul, which has been created for no other end than to love God, and to live in union with Him, shall never be able to find peace or happiness in sensual enjoyments; God alone can make her perfectly content.
The Son of God gave the appellation of fool to the rich man who, after having reaped a rich harvest from his fields, said to himself: Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thy rest, eat, drink, and make good cheer. — (Luke xii., 19). “Miserable fool!” says St. Basil, “have you the soul of a swine, of a brute, that you expect to make it happy by eating, drinking, or by sensual delights?” A man may be puffed up, but he cannot be satisfied, by the goods of this world. On the words of the Gospel, behold we have left all things — (Matt. xix., 27), St. Bernard writes, that he saw different classes of fools labouring under different species of folly. All had a great thirst for happiness: some were satiated with the goods of the earth, which is a figure of the avaricious; others with wind, the figure of the ambitious, who seek after empty honours: others seated round a furnace, swallowing the sparks that were thrown from it; these were the passionate and vindictive: others, in fine, drank putrid waters from a fetid lake: and these were the voluptuous and unchaste. Hence, turning to them the Saint exclaims: “O fools! Do you not see that these things increase, rather than diminish, your thirst!”
Ah, my God, what now remains of all the offences I have offered to Thee, but pains, bitterness, and merits for hell? I am not sorry for the pain and remorse which I now feel; on the contrary they console me, because they are the gift of Thy grace, and make me hope that, since Thou inspirest these sentiments, Thou wishest to pardon me. What displeases me is the pain I have given Thee, my Redeemer, Who has loved me so tenderly. I deserved, O my Lord, to be abandoned by Thee, but instead of abandoning me, I see that Thou dost offer me pardon, and that Thou art the first to ask for a reconciliation. O my Jesus, I wish to make peace with Thee and I desire Thy grace more than any earthly good.
Meditation II:
Spiritual Reading: MENTAL PRAYER: IV. – Method of Making It
Evening Meditation: JESUS ENLIGHTENS THE WORLD AND GLORIFIES GOD
Meditation I:
Meditation II:
Morning Meditation: THE POWER OF MARY’S INTERCESSION
With me are riches . . . that I may enrich them that love me. — (Prov. viii., 18).
If the prayers of the Saints are very powerful with God, how great must be the power of Mary’s prayers! The former are the prayers of servants, the latter the prayers of a Mother! Blessed is that person, then, for whom Mary prays. Holy Mother of God, pray for us!
Meditation I:
St. Bernard tells us that Mary has received a twofold fulness of grace. The first was in the Incarnation of the Word Who was made Man in her most holy womb; the second in that fulness of grace which we receive from God by means of her prayers. So that whatever good we have from God is received through the intercession of Mary! If the prayers of the Saints are so powerful with God, how great must be the power of those of His Mother. The former are the prayers of servants, the latter the prayers of a Mother! The prayers of Mary have the force of a command with Jesus Christ. Hence it is impossible for the Son not to grant a grace for which the Mother asks. “Rejoice, rejoice, O Mary,” says St. Methodius, “thou hast thy Son for a debtor. We are all debtors to Him, but He is a debtor to thee alone.” Blessed, then, is the person for whom Mary prays!
O great Mother of God, pray to Jesus for me! Behold the miseries of my soul and pity me. Pray and never cease to pray until thou seest me safe in Paradise. O Mary, thou art my hope; abandon me not. Holy Mother of God, pray for me.
Meditation II:
Spiritual Reading: THE VALUE OF SPIRITUAL READING
Evening Meditation: THE SON OF GOD WAS LADEN WITH ALL OUR INIQUITIES
Meditation I:
Meditation II:
Morning Meditation: THE BITTERNESS OF THE HEART OF JESUS IN THE WOMB OF HIS MOTHER
The Devotion of all devotions is love for Jesus Christ, and frequent meditation on the love which this amiable Redeemer has borne and still bears us. Let us consider the sufferings which the Heart of Jesus endured for us even from His Infancy, for then we shall be unable to love anything else but the Heart which hath loved us so much.
Meditation I:
Consider the great bitterness with which the Heart of the Infant Jesus must have felt itself afflicted and oppressed, in the womb of Mary, at the very first moment when His Father proposed for His consideration all the series of contempt, sorrow and agonies which He was to suffer during His life, to deliver men from their miseries: In the morning he wakeneth my ear . . . And I do not resist . . . I have given my body to the strikers. — (Is. l., 4, 6). Thus did Jesus speak by the mouth of the Prophet. In the morning he wakeneth my ear. That is to say: From the first moment of My conception My Father made Me feel that it was His will that I should lead a life of sorrow and in the end should be sacrificed upon a Cross. And I do not resist . . . I have given my body to the strikers. All this I have accepted for your salvation, O ye souls of men! From that time forth I gave up My Body to the scourges, to the nails, and to the death of the Cross!
My beloved Redeemer, how much did it not cost Thee, even from Thy first entrance into the world, to raise me from the mire into which I have fallen by my sins! Thou didst consent to be treated as the lowest of slaves in order to deliver me from the slavery of the devil, to whom I had willingly sold myself by sin. Yet, knowing all this, I have had the boldness continually to afflict Thy most amiable Heart which has loved me so much! But since Thou, Who art innocent, and art my God, hast accepted such a painful life and death, I will accept for Thy love, O my Jesus, every trouble that shall come from Thy hands. I accept and embrace it because it comes from these hands once pierced through in order to deliver me from the hell which I have so often deserved. O my Lord, give me Thy holy love in order to render all sufferings and ignominy sweet and pleasant to me.
Most holy Mary, recommend me to thy Son for the love that thou bearest Him. Behold, I am one of those sheep for whom thy Son has died!
Meditation II:
Spiritual Reading: BEHOLD THE HEART THAT HAS LOVED MEN SO MUCH
Evening Meditation: AND THE WORD WAS MADE FLESH. — (John i., 14).
Meditation I:
Meditation II:
