Morning Meditation: THE ADVANTAGES OF TRIBULATIONS
What things soever were written were written for our learning, that through patience and the comfort of the scriptures we might have hope. – (Epistle of Sunday, Rom. xv., 4-13).
In tribulations God enriches His beloved souls with the greatest graces. It is in his chains that St. John comes to the knowledge of the works of Jesus Christ. Let us believe that these scourges of the Lord, with which we are chastised have happened for our amendment and not for our destruction. — (Judith, viii., 27).
Meditation I:
By tribulation we atone for the sins we have committed much better than by voluntary works of penance. “Be assured,” says St. Augustine, “that God is a physician, and that tribulation is a salutary medicine.” Oh, how great is the efficacy of tribulation in healing the wounds caused by our sins! Hence the same Saint rebukes the sinner who complains of God for sending him tribulations. “Why,” he says, “do you complain? What you suffer is a remedy, not a punishment.” Job called those men happy whom God corrects by tribulation; because He heals them with the very hands by which He strikes and wounds them. Blessed is the man whom God correcteth . . . For he woundeth and cureth. He striketh, and his hand shall heal. — (Job v., 17). Hence, St. Paul gloried in his tribulations: We glory also in tribulations. — (Rom. v., 3).
Tribulations enable us to acquire great merits before God, by giving us opportunities of exercising the virtues of humility, of patience, and of resignation to the divine will. The Blessed John of Avila used to say that one Blessed be God in adversity is worth more than a thousand in prosperity. “Take away,” says St. Ambrose, “the contests of the Martyrs, and you have taken away their crowns.” Oh, what a treasure of merit is acquired by patiently bearing insults, poverty, and sickness! Insults from men were the great object of the desires of the Saints, who sought to be despised for the love of Jesus Christ, and thus to be made like unto Him.
My Jesus, I have hitherto offended Thee grievously by resisting Thy holy Will. This gives me greater pain than if I had suffered every other evil. I repent of it and I am sorry for it with my whole heart. I deserve chastisement: I do not refuse it: I accept it. Preserve me only from the chastisement of being deprived of Thy love, and then do with me what Thou pleasest. I love Thee, my dear Redeemer! I love Thee, my God! And because I love Thee, I wish to do whatever Thou wishest. Amen.
Meditation II:
Spiritual Reading: THE POVERTY OF THE INFANT JESUS
Evening Meditation: GOD SENDS HIS SON TO DIE IN ORDER TO RESTORE US TO LIFE
Meditation I:
Meditation II:
Morning Meditation: CONSIDERATIONS ON THE RELIGIOUS STATE – I
Consider that salvation is assured to souls who enter the Religious state.
God has placed us in the world and keeps us here in life, not to acquire the perishable goods of earth, but the eternal goods of Heaven. The end is life everlasting. — (Rom. vi., 22). But the misfortune is that in the world men think very little indeed, if at all, of eternal life, and only dream of acquiring honours and pleasures, and this is the reason why so many souls perish.
Meditation I:
To understand the importance of our eternal salvation it is enough to have Faith and to consider we have only one soul, and if that is lost, all is lost were a man even master of the whole world. What doth it profit a man if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his soul? — (Matt. xvi., 26). This great maxim of the Gospel has induced many youths to shut themselves up in cloisters, others to live in deserts, and others to give up their lives for Jesus Christ. For, said they, what does it profit us to possess the whole world, and all the goods of this world, in this present life, which must soon finish, and then be damned and be miserable in the life to come, which will never end? All those rich men, all those princes and emperors, who are now in hell – what have they now of all they enjoyed in this life but greater torment and a greater despair? Miserable beings! They lament now and say: All those things are passed away like a shadow. — (Wis. v., 9). For them all is passed like a shadow, like a dream, and that lamentation which is their lot has lasted already many years, and will last throughout all eternity. The fashion of this world passeth away. — (1 Cor. vii., 51). This world is a scene which lasts but a short time; happy he who plays in this scene that part which will afterwards make him happy in the life which will never end. When he shall then be contented, honoured, and a prince in Paradise, so long as God shall be God, little will he care for having been in this world – poor, despised and in tribulation. For this end alone God has placed us on this earth, and keeps us here in life, not to acquire transitory but eternal goods: The end is life everlasting.
O my God! How have I ever deserved this great mercy, that, having left so many others to live in the midst of the world, Thou hast willed to call me, who have offended Thee more than others, and deserved, more than they, to be deprived of Thy divine light, to enjoy the honour of living as a friend in Thy own house! O Lord, grant that I may understand this exceeding grace, which Thou hast bestowed on me, that I may always thank Thee for it, as I purpose and hope to do always during my life and throughout eternity, and do not permit me to be ungrateful for it. Since Thou hast been so liberal towards me, and hast in Thy love preferred me to others, it is but just that more than others I should serve and love Thee.
Meditation II:
Spiritual Reading: COUNSELS CONCERNING A RELIGIOUS VOCATION: I. – HOW IMPORTANT IT IS TO FOLLOW A VOCATION TO THE RELIGIOUS LIFE
Evening Meditation: THE LOVE THAT THE SON OF GOD HAS SHOWN US IN THE REDEMPTION
Meditation I:
Meditation II:
Morning Meditation: CONSIDERATIONS ON THE RELIGIOUS STATE – II
Consider the happy death of a Religious.
Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord. — (Apoc. xiv., 13). And who are those blessed dead who die in the Lord if not Religious, who, at the end of their lives are found already dead to the world, since they have by their Vows already detached themselves from the world and all its goods. I leave all and choose Thee alone for my Treasure, O most pure Lamb of God and my most ardent Lover!
Meditation I:
Consider, my brother, your contentment, if following your Vocation, it will be your good fortune to die in the House of God. The devil will certainly represent to you that if you retire into the House of God, you may perhaps afterwards repent of having left your own house and your own country, and deprived your parents of the advantages which they might have expected from you. But ask yourself: Shall I, at the point of death, be sorry, or shall I rejoice at having followed my resolution? I beseech you therefore to imagine yourself already at the point of death, about to appear before the Tribunal of Jesus Christ. Reflect what, when reduced to that state, you would wish to have done. Perhaps to have pleased your parents, to have worked for your own family and your country, and then to die surrounded by brothers, and nephews, and relatives in your own house with the title of Pastor, Parish Priest, Canon, bishop or a Minister of State, having done your own will? Or, on the other hand, to die in the House of God, assisted by your good brethren in Religion, who would encourage you in the passage to eternity, after having lived many years in Religion, humble, mortified, poor, far from parents, deprived of your own will and under obedience, and detached from everything in the world – all which render death sweet and agreeable? “He who has been accustomed to deprive himself of the delights of the world,” says St. Bernard, “will not regret having done so when he has to leave it.” Pope Honorius II, when dying, wished that he had remained in his monastery, occupied in washing the plates, and had not been Pope. Phillip II wished at his death that he had been a lay-brother in some Religious Order, intent on serving God, and had not been a king. Phillip III, also King of Spain, said when he was dying: “Oh, that I had been in a desert, there to serve God, and that I had never been a monarch! For, had such been the case, I should now appear with more confidence before the Tribunal of Jesus Christ.”
O my Lord Jesus Christ! Who, in order to obtain a happy death for me, hast chosen so bitter a death for Thyself – since Thou hast loved me to such an extent as to have chosen me to follow more closely Thy holy life, to have me thus more intimately united with Thy loving Heart, bind me, I beseech Thee, wholly to Thee with the sweet cords of Thy love, that I may no more separate myself from Thee. O my beloved Redeemer! I wish to be grateful to Thee, and to correspond with Thy grace, but I fear my weakness may render me unfaithful. O my Jesus! do not permit this. Let me die rather than abandon Thee, or forget the peculiar affection Thou hast shown me.
Meditation II:
Spiritual Reading: COUNSELS CONCERNING A RELIGIOUS VOCATION: II. – THE CALL OF GOD MUST BE OBEYED, AND OBEYED WITHOUT DELAY
Evening Meditation: JESUS, THE MAN OF SORROWS FROM THE WOMB OF HIS MOTHER
Meditation I:
Meditation II:
Morning Meditation: CONSIDERATIONS ON THE RELIGIOUS STATE – III
Consider the account which he will have to render to Jesus Christ on the Day of Judgment who does not follow his Vocation.
The grace of Vocation is a very rare grace which God grants only to a few. But the greater the grace, the greater will be the indignation of the Lord against him who does not correspond with it. He is the Lord. When He calls He wishes to be obeyed, and obeyed promptly.
Meditation I:
The grace of Vocation to the Religious state is not an ordinary grace; it is a very rare one, which God grants only to a few. He hath not done so to every nation. — (Ps. cxlvii., 20). Oh, how much greater is this grace, to be called to a perfect life, and to become one of the household of God, than if one were called to be the king of any kingdom on this earth! For what comparison can there be between a temporal kingdom on this earth and the eternal kingdom of Heaven?
But the greater the grace, the greater will be the indignation of the Lord against him who has not corresponded with it, and the more rigorous will be His judgment on the day of account. If a king were to call a poor shepherd to his royal palace, to serve him among the noblemen of his court, what would not be the indignation of the king were he to refuse such a favour through unwillingness to leave his poor little hut and his little flock? God know well the value of His graces, and therefore He chastises with severity those who despise them. He is the Lord; when He calls He wishes to be obeyed, and obeyed promptly.
O Lord, Thou hast shown me such an excess of bounty as to choose me from among so many others, to serve Thee in Thy own House with Thy most beloved servants. I know how great is that grace, and how unworthy of it I have been. Behold, I am now willing to correspond to so great a love. I will obey Thee. Since Thou hast been so liberal towards me as to call me when I did not seek Thee, and when I was so ungrateful, permit not that I should offer Thee that greater excess of ingratitude as to embrace again my enemy, the world, in which heretofore I have so oftentimes forfeited Thy grace and my eternal salvation, and thus to forsake Thee, Who hast shed Thy Blood and given Thy life for my sake. Since Thou hast called me, give me also the strength to correspond to the call. Already have I promised to obey Thee. I promise it again, but without the grace of perseverance I cannot be faithful to Thee. This perseverance I ask from Thee, and through Thy own merits it is that I wish it and hope to obtain it.
Meditation II:
Spiritual Reading: COUNSELS CONCERNING A RELIGIOUS VOCATION: III. – THE MEANS TO BE EMPLOYED FOR PRESERVING A RELIGIOUS VOCATION
Evening Meditation: GRANDEUR OF THE MYSTERY OF THE INCARNATION
Meditation I:
Meditation II:
Morning Meditation: CONSIDERATIONS ON THE RELIGIOUS STATE – IV
Consider the torments of the soul of one in hell who lost his Vocation.
He will say: O fool that I was! I might have become a great Saint! And if I had obeyed the Call of God I should certainly have become a Saint, and now I am damned without remedy! Make your choice, for God leaves it in your own hands, to be a great king in Paradise, or a reprobate in hell.
Meditation I:
The remorse for having lost, by one’s own fault, some great good, or for having been the voluntary cause of some great evil to ourselves, is so great that even in this life it is an insupportable torment. But what torment will that youth, called by the singular favour of God to the Religious state, feel in hell when he perceives that if he had obeyed God he would have attained a high place in Paradise, and sees himself nevertheless confined in that prison of torments, without hope of remedy for this his eternal ruin! Their worm dieth not. — (Mark ix., 43).
This will be that worm, which, living always, will always gnaw his heart by continual remorse. Fool that I was! he will say, I might have become a great Saint. And if I had obeyed, I should certainly have become a Saint; and now I am damned without remedy.
Unfortunate man! For his greater torment, on the Day of Judgment, he will see and recognize at the right hand of God and crowned as Saints, those who followed their Vocation, and, leaving the world, retired to the House of God, to which he also had been called. He shall see himself separated from the company of the Blessed, and placed in the midst of that innumerable and miserable crew of the damned, for his disobedience to the voice of God.
No, my God, permit me not to disobey Thee and to be unfaithful. I see Thy goodness, and thank Thee, for instead of casting me away from Thy face, and banishing me to hell, as I have so often deserved, Thou callest me to become a Saint, and preparest for me a high place in Paradise. I see that I should deserve a double torment, should I not correspond with this grace – a grace not given to all. I will obey Thee. Behold, I am Thine, and always will be Thine. I embrace with joy all the pains and discomforts of the Religious life, to which Thou invitest me. And what are these pains in comparison with the eternal pains, which I have deserved? I was entirely lost through my sins; now I give myself entirely to Thee. Dispose of me and my life as Thou pleasest.
Meditation II:
Spiritual Reading: COUNSELS CONCERNING A RELIGIOUS VOCATION: IV. – THE MEANS TO BE EMPLOYED TO PRESERVE A RELIGIOUS VOCATION
Evening Meditation: JESUS SUFFERS DURING HIS WHOLE LIFE
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Meditation II:
Morning Meditation: CONSIDERATIONS ON THE RELIGIOUS STATE – V
Consider the immense glory that Religious will enjoy in Heaven.
He will render to everyone according to his works. — (Matt. xvi., 27).
From this you can judge how exceeding great will be the reward that God will give in Heaven to good Religious on account of the great merits they acquire every day. Going, they went and wept casting their seeds; but coming, they shall come with joyfulness, carrying their sheaves. — (Ps. cxxv., 6, 7).
Meditation I:
Consider, in the first place, what St. Bernard says: that it is difficult for Religious who die in the Religious state to be damned. “From the cell to heaven the way is easy. One scarcely ever descends from the cell into hell.” The reason the Saint adduces is: “because one scarcely ever perseveres in it until death unless he be predestinated.” For it is with difficulty a Religious perseveres until death, if he be not of the number of the Elect of Paradise. Therefore, St. Laurence Justinian called the Religious state the gate of Paradise: “Of that heavenly city this is the gate.” And he said that, therefore, “Religious have a great sign of predestination.”
Consider, moreover, that the reward of Heaven, as the Apostle says, is a crown of justice. — (2 Tim. iv., 8). Wherefore, God, though He rewards us for our works more abundantly than we deserve, rewards us nevertheless in proportion to the works we have done. He will render to everyone according to his works. From this you can judge how exceedingly great will be the reward which God will give in Heaven to good Religious, in consideration of the great merits they daily acquire.
The Religious gives to God all his earthly goods and is content to be entirely poor, without possessing anything. The Religious renounces all attachment to his parents, friends, and country, in order to unite himself more closely to God. The Religious continually mortifies himself in many things which he would enjoy in the world. The Religious, finally, gives to God his whole self, by giving Him his will through the Vow of Obedience.
The dearest thing that we have to give is our own will, and what God, of all other things, requires of us most is the heart, that is to say, the will. My son, give me thy heart. He who serves God in the world will give Him his possessions, but not himself; he will give Him a part and not the whole, for he will give Him indeed his goods by alms-deeds, his food by fasting, his blood by disciplines, etc. But he will always reserve for himself his own will, fasting when he pleasest, praying when he likes. But the Religious, giving Him his own will, gives himself and gives all; gives not only the fruits of the tree, but the whole tree itself. Whence he may then truly say to Him: O Lord! Having given Thee my will, I have nothing more to give Thee.
Is it possible, O my God and true Lover! that Thou so much desirest my good, and to be loved by me, and that I, miserable that I am, desire so little to love and to please Thee? For what end hast Thou favoured me with so many graces, and taken me out of the world? O my Jesus! I understand Thee. Thou lovest me much, Thou wilt have me love Thee much, and be all Thine, in this life and in the next. Thou wishest that my love should not be divided with creatures, but wilt have it be wholly for Thyself, the only Good, the only lovely One, and worthy of infinite love. Ah! my Lord, my Treasure, my Love, my All! Yes, I pant and truly desire to love Thee, and to love no other but Thee.
Meditation II:
Spiritual Reading: COUNSELS CONCERNING A RELIGIOUS VOCATION: V. – THE MEANS TO BE EMPLOYED FOR PRESERVING A RELIGIOUS VOCATION: B. – PRAYER
Evening Meditation: JESUS WISHED TO SUFFER SO MUCH IN ORDER TO GAIN OUR HEARTS
Meditation I:
Meditation II:
Morning Meditation: THE OFFERING MARY MADE OF HERSELF TO GOD WAS PROMPT AND WITHOUT DELAY
Arise, make haste, my love, my dove, my beautiful one, and come! — (Cant. ii., 10). Mary well understood the voice of God calling her to devote herself to His love. And thus enlightened she at once offered herself to her Lord. Behold, O Mary, I this day present myself to thee, and in union with thee I renounce all creatures and devote myself entirely to the love of my Creator.
Meditation I:
Hearken, O daughter, and see, and incline thine ear; and forget thy people and thy father’s house. — (Ps. xliv., 11). The holy Virgin obeyed this divine call with promptitude and with generosity. From the first moment that the heavenly child was sanctified in her mother’s womb, which was at the instant of her Immaculate Conception, she received the perfect use of reason and she began to merit. And immediately, as an Angel revealed to St. Bridget, our Queen determined to sacrifice her will to God, and to give Him all her love for the whole of her life.
Mary, hearing that her holy parents, St. Joachim and St. Anne, had consecrated her by Vow to God, requested them with earnestness to take her to the Temple, and accomplish their promise. At the age of three years, as St. Epiphanius tells us – an age at which children are the most desirous and stand in the greatest need of their parents’ care – Mary desired to consecrate herself to God.
Behold, then, Joachim and Anne, generously sacrificing to God the most precious treasure they possessed in the world, and the treasure dearest to their hearts. They set forth from Nazareth carrying their well-beloved little daughter in turn, for she could not otherwise have undertaken so long a journey as that from Nazareth to Jerusalem, a distance of eighty miles. They were accompanied by few relatives, but choirs of Angels escorted and served the Immaculate little Virgin, who was about to consecrate herself to the Divine Majesty. How beautiful are thy steps. . . O prince’s daughter. — (Cant. vii., 1). “O how beautiful,” must the Angels have sung, “how acceptable to God is thy every step taken on the way to present and offer thyself to Him, O noble daughter, most beloved of our common Lord!”
O beloved Mother of God, most amiable child, Mary, who didst present thyself in the Temple, and with promptitude and without reserve didst consecrate thyself to the glory and love of God; O that I could offer thee this day the first years of my life, to devote myself without reserve to thy service, my holy and most sweet Lady! But it is now too late to do this, for I have lost many years in the service of the world. Woe to that time in which I did not love thee! But it is better to begin now at last than not at all. O Mary, I this day present myself to thee, and in union with thee I renounce all creatures and devote myself entirely to the love of my Creator. Do thou help my weakness by thy powerful intercession.
Meditation II:
Spiritual Reading: COUNSELS CONCERNING A RELIGIOUS VOCATION: VI. – DISPOSITIONS REQUIRED FOR ENTERING RELIGION
Evening Meditation: THE GREATEST SORROW OF JESUS
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Meditation II:
Morning Meditation: IT WAS BECOMING THAT THE ETERNAL FATHER SHOULD PRESERVE MARY FROM ORIGINAL SIN
As the lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters. — (Cant. ii., 2).
Great indeed was the injury entailed on Adam and on all his posterity by his accursed sin. But from this general misfortune God was pleased to exempt the Blessed Virgin, as the predestined Mother of His only begotten Son and the first-born of Grace. She was to crush the serpent’s head and to be the sinless Mediatress of peace between man and God. Hence the Eternal Father could well say of His beloved Daughter: As the lily among thorns, so is my beloved among the daughters, always immaculate and always beloved.
Meditation I:
It was most becoming that God should preserve Mary from original sin for He destined her to crush the head of the infernal spirit which, by seducing our First Parents, brought death upon all men. This the Lord foretold: I will put emnities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed; she shall crush thy head. — (Gen. iii., 15). But if Mary was that Valiant Woman brought into the world to conquer Lucifer, certainly it was not becoming that he should first conquer her and make her his slave. Reason would indeed demand that she should be preserved from all stain and even momentary subjection to her opponent. How then could God permit that she should first be the slave of the infernal serpent? Praised and ever blessed be God, Who, in His infinite goodness, pre-endowed Mary with such great grace that, remaining always free from guilt of sin, she was ever able to beat down and confound the serpent’s pride.
Besides this it was wholly becoming that the Eternal Father should create Mary, “the one and only daughter of life,” free from the stain of original sin and always possessed by His grace, destined as she was to be the repairer of a lost world, Mediatress of peace between men and God. “O Blessed Virgin,” says St. John Damascene, “thou wast born that thou mightest minister to the salvation of the whole world.” “Hail, reconciler of the whole world!” cries out St. Ephrem. “Hail, thou who art appointed umpire between God and man!” cries St. Basil of Silucia.
Now it certainly would not be becoming to choose an enemy to treat of peace with the offended person, and still less an accomplice in the crime itself. St. Gregory says that, “an enemy cannot undertake to appease his judge who is at the same time the injured party; for if he did, instead of appeasing him, he would provoke him to greater wrath.” And, therefore, as Mary was to be the Mediatress of peace between men and God, it was of the utmost importance that she should not herself appear as a sinner and an enemy of God, but that she should appear in all things as a friend, and free from every stain. Hence it was becoming that God should preserve her from sin, that she might not appear guilty of the same fault as the men for whom she was to intercede.
Ah, my Immaculate Lady, I rejoice with thee on seeing thee enriched with so great purity. I thank our common Creator for having preserved thee from every stain of sin. Thou art all fair and there is not a spot in thee! — (Cant. iv., 7). O most pure dove, all fair, all beautiful, always the friend of God! Ah, most sweet, most amiable, immaculate Mary, disdain not to cast thy compassionate eyes upon the wounds of my soul. Behold me, pity me, heal me! The happy day when I shall go to behold thy beauty in Paradise seems a thousand years off, so much do I long to praise and love thee more than I now do, my Mother, my Queen, my beloved, most sweet, most pure, immaculate Mary! Amen.
Meditation II:
Spiritual Reading: IT WAS BECOMING THAT THE SON SHOULD PRESERVE HIS MOTHER FROM ORIGINAL SIN
Evening Meditation: IT WAS BECOMING THAT THE HOLY GHOST SHOULD PRESERVE MARY FROM ORIGINAL SIN
Meditation I:
My sister, my spouse, is a garden enclosed, a fountain sealed up. — (Cant. iv., 12).
Since it was becoming…
Meditation II:
