Morning Meditation: “THOU ART JUST, O LORD, AND THY JUDGMENT IS RIGHT”
By our sins long ago committed, and often since, we have deserved hell. And do we understand what hell means? One moment in hell is more dreadful than a hundred years of most frightful torments. And yet we complain if God sends us sufferings. O Lord, Thou art just! Give us grace to suffer with patience.
Meditation I:
Are we to look upon God as a tyrant who takes pleasure in our suffering? He does take pleasure in punishing us, but exactly the same pleasure a father takes in correcting his son: He does not take pleasure in the pain which He inflicts, but in the amendment it will work. My son, reject not the correction of the Lord; and do not faint when thou art chastised by him, for whom the Lord loveth he chastiseth, and as a father in the son, he pleaseth himself. — (Prov. iii. 11). He chastises you because He loves you; it is not that He wishes to see you afflicted, but converted; and if He takes pleasure in your suffering, He does so inasmuch as it is a means of conversion – just as a father who chastises his son derives pleasure, not from the affliction of his son, but from the amendment which he hopes to see in him, and which will prevent him from working his own ruin. Chastisement makes us return to God, says St. John Chrysostom; and it is to this end God inflicts it, in order that we may not stay away from Him.
Why then do you complain of God when in tribulation? You ought to thank Him prostrate on the earth. If a man condemned to die were to have his sentence changed by the prince from death into one hour’s imprisonment, and if he were to complain of that one hour, would his complaint be just? Would he not rather deserve that the prince should reverse the last sentence, and condemn him a second time to death? You have long and often deserved hell by your sins. And do you know all that the word hell means? Know that it is more dreadful to suffer for one moment in hell than to suffer for a hundred years the most frightful torments which the Martyrs suffered on earth; and in this hell you should have had to suffer not for a moment, but during all eternity. And yet you complain if God send you some tribulation, some infirmity, some loss! Thank God, and say: Lord, this chastisement is trifling compared with my sins. I should have been in hell burning, deserted by all, and in despair; I thank Thee for having called me to Thyself by this tribulation which Thou hast sent me. God, says Oleaster, often calls sinners to repentance by temporal chastisements. By earthly chastisements the Lord shows us the immense punishment our sins deserve; and therefore afflicts us on this earth, that we may be converted and escape eternal flames.
Meditation II:
Spiritual Reading: HOLY HUMILITY
V. HUMILITY OF THE INTELLECT OR JUDGMENT
Evening Meditation: INTERIOR TRIALS
Meditation I:
We are to have this certain confidence that in obeying our Spiritual Father, we are sure of not sinning. “The sovereign remedy for the scrupulous,” says St. Bernard, “is a blind obedience to their confessor.” John Gerson relates, that the same Saint told one of his disciples, who was scrupulous, to go and celebrate, and take his word for it. He went, and was cured of his scruples. “But a person may answer,” says Gerson, “Would to God I had a St. Bernard for my director! Mine is one of indifferent wisdom.” And he answers, “Thou dost err, whoever thou art that so speakest; for thou hast not given thyself into the hands of the man because he is well read, etc., but because he is placed over thee; wherefore obey him not as man, but as God.” Hence St. Teresa has well said: “Let the soul accept the confessor with a determination to think no more of personal excuses, but to trust in the words of the Lord: He that heareth you heareth me.”
Hence St. Francis de Sales, speaking of direction from a Spiritual Father in order to walk securely in the way of God, says: “This is the very counsel of all counsels.” “Search as much as you will,” says the saintly Father John of Avila, “you will in no way discover the will of God so surely as by the path of that humble obedience which is so much recommended and practised by the devout of former times.” Thus, too, Father Alvarez said: “Even if the Spiritual Father should err, the obedient soul is secure from error, because it rests on the judgment of him whom God has given it as a superior.” And Father Nieremberg writes to the same effect: “Let the soul obey the confessor; and then, although the thing itself were faulty, he does not sin who does it with the intention of obeying him who holds the place of God in his regard, persuading himself, as is, indeed, the case, that he is bound to obey him,” who is the interpreter of the Divine will.
Meditation II:
Morning Meditation: “WHO WILL HAVE ALL MEN TO BE SAVED”
God wishes that we should all be saved, as the Apostle assures us when he says God will have all men to be saved. — (1 Tim. ii. 4). And although He sees so many sinners who deserve hell, He does not wish any of them to be lost but that they be restored to grace by penance and saved. Not willing that any should perish, but that all should return to penance. — (2 Peter iii. 9).
Meditation I:
He who has a good heart cannot but feel compassion for the afflicted, and wish to see all men happy. But who has a heart as good as the Lord’s? He by His nature is infinite goodness, and hence it is that God by His nature has an extreme desire to deliver us from every evil, and render us happy in all things, nay, even to be partakers of His own happiness.
God wishes that we should all be saved, as the Apostle assures us: God … who will have all men to be saved. — (1 Tim. ii. 4). And although He sees so many sinners who deserve hell, He does not wish that any of them should be lost, but that they should be restored to grace by penance, and be saved. Not willing that any should perish, but that all should return to penance. — (2 Peter iii. 9). But before delivering us from the punishment we have deserved, and dispensing His graces, God wishes to be besought in prayer. “By prayer,” says St. Laurence Justinian, “the wrath of God is suspended, His vengeance is delayed, and pardon finally procured.” Oh how great are the promises which God makes to him who prays! Call upon me in the day of trouble, and I will deliver thee. — (Ps. xlix. 15). Cry to me, and I will hear thee. — (Jer. xxxiii. 3). You shall ask whatever you will, and it shall be done unto you. — (John xv. 7). Theodoret says that Prayer though being but one, can do all things. And let us bear in mind that when we pray and ask things conducive to salvation not even our sins can prevent our receiving the graces which we beg – For every one that asketh receiveth. — (Matt. vii. 8). Jesus Christ here says that whoever asks, be he just or sinner, shall receive. Wherefore did David say: For thou, O Lord, art sweet and mild, and plenteous in mercy to all that call upon thee. — (Ps. Ixxxv. 5). Hence, in order to excite us to prayer, the Apostle St. James tells us: But if any of you want wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to all men abundantly, and upbraideth not. — (James i. 5).
Meditation II:
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Spiritual Reading: HOLY HUMILITY
VI. HUMILITY OF THE INTELLECT OR JUDGMENT
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Evening Meditation: INTERIOR TRIALS
Meditation I:
Father Wigandt says that the scrupulous soul should obey the Confessor in all cases where the command is not plainly a sin, and this is the general and undoubted decision among the Doctors of the spiritual life. St. Ignatius Loyola says: “There must be obedience in all things in which no sin is perceived – that is, in which there is no manifest sin.” Blessed Humbert, General of the Friar Preachers says: “Unless the command be plainly evil, it is to be received as though enjoined by God.” Blessed Denis the Carthusian says: “In things doubtful as to whether or not they are against the Divine precept, one must stand by the precept of the superior; because, although it should be against the precept of God, yet, in virtue of obedience, the person under direction sins not.” St. Bonaventure teaches the same.
“The scrupulous are to act against their scruples,” says Gerson, “and plant their feet firmly in resisting. We cannot set scruples at rest better than by despising them; and, as a general rule, not without the advice of another, and especially our Superior. Otherwise, either ill-regulated fear or over-presumption will be our ruin.” The remedy St. Philip Neri gave the scrupulous was, to make them despise their scruples. It is told in his Life that, besides the general remedy of committing one’s self altogether and for everything to the judgment of the confessor, the Saint gave another: his penitents should despise their scruples. Hence he forbade such persons to confess often; and when, in Confession, they entered upon their scruples, he used to send them to Communion without hearing them.
Meditation II:
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Morning Meditation: “YOU RECEIVE NOT BECAUSE YOU ASK AMISS”
Many there are who ask graces from God but do not obtain them. And why is this? St. James answers and says they receive not because they do not ask as they should. You ask and receive not, because you ask amiss. — (James iv. 3). How can God hear the sinner who prays to Him to be freed from affliction, when he will not abandon sin which is the cause of all his miseries? We cannot expect to be heard unless our prayer be accompanied by a firm purpose to amend.
Meditation I:
God desires to deliver us from every evil, and to share His blessings with us, but He wishes us to ask Him in prayer, and so to pray that we may deserve to be heard. How can God listen to the prayer of the sinner who prays to Him that he may be freed from his afflictions, whilst he is unwilling to abandon sin, which is the cause of his afflictions? When the impious Jeroboam stretched out his hand against the Prophet, who reproached him with his wretchedness, the Lord caused his hand to wither up, so that he could not draw it back. And his hand which he stretched forth against him withered, and he was not able to draw it back again to him. — (3 Kings xiii. 4). Then the king turned to the man of God, and besought him to beg of the Lord to restore his hand. Theodoret says with regard to this circumstance: “Fool that he was to have asked the Prophet’s prayers for the restoration of his hand, and not pardon of his sins.” Thus do many act; they beg of God to deliver them from their afflictions; they beg of the servants of God to avert by their prayers the threatened chastisements, but they do not seek to obtain the grace of abandoning their sins and changing their lives. And how can such persons hope to be freed from chastisement when they will not remove its cause? It is accursed sin that arms the hand of the Lord with thunders to chastise and afflict us. “Punishment is the fine that is to be paid for sin,” says Tertullian. The afflictions we suffer are a fine which must be paid by him whom sin has subjected to the penalty. St. Basil in like manner says that sin is a note of hand which we give against ourselves. Since we sin, we voluntarily go into debt to God’s justice. It is not God, then, who makes us miserable; it is sin. Sin maketh nations miserable. — (Prov. xiv. 34). Sin it is which obliges God to create chastisements: Famine, and affliction, and scourges, all these things are created for the wicked. — (Ecclus. xl. 9).
Jeremias, addressing the sword of the Lord, says: O thou sword of the Lord, how long will thou not be quiet? Go into thy scabbard, rest and be still. — (Jer. xlvii. 6). But then, he goes on to say: How shall it be quiet when the Lord hath given it a charge against Ascalon? How can the sword of the Lord ever be at rest if sinners do not choose to abandon their sins, notwithstanding that the Lord has given a charge to his sword to execute vengeance as long as sinners shall continue to deserve it? But some will say, we make Novenas, we fast, we give alms, we pray to God: why are we not heard? To them the Lord replies, When they fast, I will not hear their prayers, and if they offer holocausts and victims, I will not receive them; for I will consume them by the sword, and by famine, and by the pestilence. — (Jer. xiv. 12). The Lord exclaims: How can I hear the prayers of those who beg to be freed from their afflictions, and not from their sins, because they do not wish to reform? What care I for their fasts, and their sacrifices, and their alms, when they will not change their lives? I will consume them by the sword. With all their prayers and devotions, and penitential exercises, I shall be obliged by My justice to punish them.
Meditation II:
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Spiritual Reading: HOLY HUMILITY
VII. HUMILITY OF THE HEART OR WILL
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Evening Meditation: INTERIOR TRIALS
Meditation I:
God is all goodness to those who seek Him. The Lord is good to the soul that seeketh him. — (Lam. iii. 25). No one has ever put his trust in God, and had to remain abandoned by Him: None had hoped in the Lord, and been confounded. — (Ecclus. ii. 11). God lets Himself be found even by those who seek Him not. I was found by them that did not seek me. — (Rom. x. 20). With how much greater ease will He not allow Himself to be found by one who does seek Him! Let no one say that God has abandoned him; the Lord abandons none but the very obstinate who desire to live in sin; neither does He altogether abandon even these, but is ever going after them up to the time of their death, giving them graces for their succour, that so He may not see them lost.
When a soul is desirous to love Him, God cannot but love it, as He has Himself declared: I love them that love me. — (Prov. viii. 17). And whenever He hides Himself from these loving souls, He does so for their advantage only, that He may see them yet more desirous of finding His grace, and more closely united with Himself. When St. Catharine of Genoa was suffering aridity to such a degree that it seemed to her as if God had abandoned her, and that nothing remained to her as a ground for hope, it was then that she would say: “How happy I am in this state, deplorable even though it be! May my heart be broken to pieces, provided that my Love be glorified! O my dearest Love, if from this unhappy state of mine is produced but a single atom of glory for Thee, I pray that Thou wouldst leave me thus for all eternity!” And saying this, she would burst into a flood of tears in the midst of her desolation.
Meditation II:
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Morning Meditation: THE HAPPINESS THAT COMES FROM CONFORMITY TO GOD’S WILL
He who is conformed in everything to the Divine will, enjoys perpetual peace even in this life. Whatsoever shall befall the just man, it shall not make him sad. — (Prov. xii. 21). At the mere word – the Will of God – St. Mary Magdalen de Pazzi used to feel so much delight she would fall into an ecstasy of love.
Meditation I:
He who is conformed in everything to the Divine will, enjoys perpetual peace even in this world. Whatsoever shall befall the just man, it shall not make him sad. — (Prov. xii. 21). Yes, for a man cannot enjoy greater happiness than that which arises from the accomplishment of all his wishes. He who wills only what God wills, sees always his own will done; for whatever happens to him happens by the will of God. If such a soul, says Salvian, be humbled, it desires humiliations; if it be poor, it delights in poverty, wishing whatever happens, and thus it leads a happy life. Let cold, heat, wind, or rain come, and he that is united with the will of God, says: I wish for this cold, this heat, this wind, and this rain, because God wills them. If loss of property, persecution, or sickness befall, he says: I wish to be poor, to be persecuted, to be sick, because such is the will of God. He who reposes in the Divine will, and is resigned to whatever the Lord does, is like a man who stands above the clouds, and there, calm and secure, beholds the tempest raging below. This is the peace which, according to the Apostle, surpasseth all understanding — (Phil. iv. 7), which exceeds all the delights of the world; a perpetual peace, subject to no vicissitudes. A holy man continueth in wisdom as the sun, but a fool is changed as the moon. — (Ecclus. xxvii. 12). Fools – that is, sinners – are changed like the moon, which increases to-day, grows less to-morrow. To-day they laugh, to-morrow they weep; to-day all joy and meekness, to-morrow, all sadness and disturbed; in a word, they change with every wind. But the just man is like the sun, always the same, and uniformly tranquil whatever happens; for his peace rests on conformity to the Divine will. And on earth peace to men of good will. — (Luke ii. 14). At the mere words the Will of God, St. Mary Magdalen de Pazzi used to feel such delight she would fall into an ecstasy of love. When the will is united with the will of God, crosses may produce some pain in the inferior part, but in the superior part peace will always reign. Your joy no man shall take from you. — (John xvi. 22). But how great the folly of those who oppose the will of God! What God wishes will certainly happen; for who resisteth his will? — (Rom. ix. 19). They, therefore, must bear the cross, but without fruit and without peace. Who hath resisted him, and hath had peace? — (Job ix. 4).
And what else but our welfare does God will? This is the will of your God, your sanctification. — (1 Thess. iv. 3). He wishes to see us saints, that we may be at peace in this life, and happy in the next. Let us remember that the crosses which come to us from God work together unto good. — (Rom. viii. 28). Even chastisements are inflicted on us in this life, not for our destruction, but that we may amend, and gain eternal beatitude. Let us believe that these scourges of the Lord …. have happened for our amendment, and not for our destruction. — (Judith viii. 27). God loves us so ardently, that He not only desires, but is solicitous for, the salvation of each of us. The Lord is careful for me. — (Ps. xxxix. 18). And what will He deny us after having given us His Son? He that spared not even his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how hath he not also with him given us all things. — (Rom. viii. 32).
O Jesus, my Redeemer, Thou hast sacrificed Thy life on the Cross in order to become the cause of my salvation; have mercy on me, then, and save me; do not permit a soul Thou hast redeemed with so many pains, and so much love, to hate Thee for eternity in hell. Thou canst do nothing more to oblige me to love Thee. This Thou gavest me to understand, when, before expiring on Calvary, Thou didst utter these loving words: It is consummated. But how have I repaid Thy love? In the past, I can truly say I have done all I could to displease Thee, and to oblige Thee to hate me. I thank Thee for having borne with me so patiently, and for now giving me time to repair my ingratitude, and to love Thee before I die. Yes, I wish to love Thee, and I wish to love Thee ardently, my Saviour, my God, my Love, and my All!
Meditation II:
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Spiritual Reading: HOLY HUMILITY
VIII. HUMILITY OF THE HEART OR WILL
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Evening Meditation: INTERIOR TRIALS
Meditation I:
When you experience more aridity than usual, occupy yourself in the delight of the infinite joy that God enjoys. He is the object of our love, and the most perfect act of love even the Saints in Heaven can perform is to rejoice in the beatitude of God immeasurably more than in their own.
Meditate constantly on the Passion of Jesus Christ. Jesus suffering out of His love for us is the object which most forcibly attracts our hearts. If, while meditating on the Mysteries of the Passion, the Lord grants you any feeling of tenderness, receive it with thankfulness; but whenever you do not experience this, you must know that you will always derive from the practice great comfort for your soul. Frequently go more especially to the Garden of Gethsemani, after the example of St. Teresa, who used to say that she found Jesus there alone; and on considering Him when in affliction so great that He falls into an agony, sweats blood, and declares His sorrow to be such as to be enough to cause Him to die, you will readily find comfort in any afflictions of your own, seeing that He endures it all out of love for you. And at the sight of Jesus preparing Himself to die for you, do you likewise prepare yourself to die for Him. And when you experience in your distress more affliction than usual, then say what St. Thomas the Apostle said to the other disciples: Let us also go, that we may die with him. — (John xi. 16). Let us die with Jesus. Go likewise to Calvary, where you will find Him expiring on the Cross, consumed by suffering; and seeing Him in that condition, it will be impossible for you not to be ready willingly to suffer pain of every kind for a God Who is dying of sufferings undergone through His love for you. St. Paul protested that He neither knew nor wished to know anything in this life save Jesus crucified: For I judged not myself to know anything among you but Jesus Christ, and him crucified. — (1 Cor. ii. 2). Let him who would preserve devotion within his soul, says St. Bonaventure, ever keep the eyes of his heart fixed upon Christ dying upon the Cross. And thus, in all your fears, look at Jesus crucified, and take courage, and brace yourself up to suffer through love for Him.
O Lord, take not Thyself from me, and then take from me all besides, as may seem good in Thy sight. My Love, draw me after Thee, and then it matters not though Thou take from me the consolation of being conscious of it; but let it be forcibly that Thou drawest me out of the mire of my sins. Help Thy servants whom Thou hast redeemed with Thy precious Blood. I wish to be all Thine own, cost what it may; I wish to love Thee with all my strength; but what can I do myself? Thy Blood is my hope. O Mary, Mother of God, my refuge, neglect not to pray for me in all my tribulations. First of all in the Blood of Jesus Christ, and then in thy prayers, do I trust for my eternal salvation. In thee, O Lady, have I hoped, I shall not be confounded forever. Obtain for me the grace ever to love my God in this life and in eternity, and I ask for nothing more.
Meditation II:
Morning Meditation: “MY MEAT IS TO DO THE WILL OF HIM THAT SENT ME”
In this mortal life, meat is that which preserves our life. Our Divine Lord said it was His meat to do the will of His Father. Life in his will. — (Ps. xxix. 6). Our life depends upon our doing the Divine will; he that does it not, is dead.
Meditation I:
My meat is to do the will of him that sent me. — (John iv. 34). In this mortal life, meat is that which preserves our life. Our Divine Lord said it was His meat to do the will of His Father. Life in his will. — (Ps. xxix. 6). Our life depends upon our doing the Divine will; he that does it not, is dead.
The Wise Man says: They that are faithful in love shall rest in him. — (Wis. iii. 9). They who have little love for God will desire that God should agree with them; that He should conform to their pleasure and do whatever they desire. But they who truly love God unite their wills to His will and are satisfied with everything that God does with them. With everything that comes, with every adversity, sickness, dishonour, weariness, loss of property and friends, they have ever on their lips and in their hearts these words: Thy will be done!
God desires only that which is best for us, that is our sanctification. Let us take care, therefore, to unite our will ever to the will of God and thus we shall be able to convince and calm our minds, recollecting that everything that God does is the best thing that can befall us. Whoever neglects this will never find true peace. All the perfection that can be attained in this world, which is a place of purification, and consequently a place of pains and troubles, consists in suffering patiently those things that are opposed to our self-love; and, in order to suffer with patience, there is no more efficacious means than a willingness to suffer, in order to do the will of God. Submit thyself, then, to him, and be at peace. — (Job xxii. 21). He that agrees with the Divine will in everything is always at peace, and nothing that happens to him can make him unhappy. Whatsoever shall befall the just man, it shall not make him sad. — (Prov. xii. 21). But why is the just man never unhappy under any circumstances? Because he knows well that whatever happens in the world, happens through the will of God.
Meditation II:
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Spiritual Reading: HOLY HUMILITY
IX. PATIENCE UNDER CORRECTION
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Evening Meditation: THE MEANS TO ACQUIRE THE PERFECT LOVE OF GOD
Meditation I:
To acquire the perfect love of God we must adopt the means of becoming saints.
The first means is, to detach the heart from all creatures, and to banish from the soul every affection which is not for God. The first question which the Ancient Fathers of the Desert used to put to every one who sought admission into their society was: “Do you bring an empty heart, that the Holy Ghost may be able to fill it?” If the world be not expelled from the heart, God cannot enter it. St. Teresa said: “Detach the heart from creatures; seek God, and you shall find Him.” St. Augustine writes, that the Romans worshipped thirty thousand gods; but among these gods the Roman Senate refused to admit Jesus Christ. Because, said they, He is a proud God, Who requires that He alone should be adored. This they had reason to say, for our God wishes to have entire possession of our souls. He is, as St. Jerome says, a jealous God. And therefore He will have no rival in the affections of our heart. Hence the spouse in the Canticles is called an enclosed garden. My sister, my spouse is a garden enclosed. — (Cant. iv. 12). The soul, then, that wishes to belong entirely to God must be closed to all love which is not for God.
Hence the Divine Spouse is said to be wounded by one of the eyes of His spouse. Thou hast wounded my heart, my sister, my spouse; thou hast wounded my heart with one of thy eyes. — (Cant. iv. 9). One of her eyes signifies, that in all her thoughts and actions the only end of the spouse is to please God, while, in their devout exercises, worldlings propose to themselves different objects – sometimes their own interest, sometimes to please their friends, and sometimes to please themselves. But the Saints seek only to please God, to Whom they turn, and say: What have I in heaven? and besides thee, what do I desire upon earth? … Thou art the God of my heart, and the God that is my portion for ever. — (Ps. lxxii. 25). We should do the same if we wished to be saints. If, says St. John Chrysostom, we do a thing to please God, why should we seek any other reward? Or what greater reward can a creature wish for than to please its Creator? Hence, in all we desire or do, we should seek nothing but God. A certain solitary, named Zeno, walking through the desert, absorbed in meditation, met the Emperor Macedonius going to hunt. The Emperor asked him what he was doing. In answer, the solitary said: You go in quest of game; I seek God alone. St. Francis de Sales used to say, that the pure love of God consumes all that is not God.
Meditation II:
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Morning Meditation: JESUS “DESPISED AND THE MOST ABJECT OF MEN”
We have seen him …. despised and the most abject of men. — (Is. liii. 2, 3). This great prodigy was once seen upon earth — the Son of God, the Lord of all Creation, the King of Heaven, despised as the most abject of men! Ah, how few there are, even among Christians, who reflect on the sorrows and ignominies which this Saviour endured for our sakes!
Meditation I:
We have seen him, says the Prophet Isaias, despised and the most abject of men. This great prodigy was once seen upon the earth — the Son of God, the King of Heaven, the Lord of all Creation, despised as the most abject of men! St. Anselm says that Jesus Christ wished to be humbled and despised in such a manner that it would be impossible for Him to endure greater humiliations or contempt. He was treated as a person of mean condition. Is not this, said the Jews, the carpenter’s son? — (Matt. xiii. 55). He was despised on account of His country: Can anything of good come from Nazareth? — (John i. 46). He was called a madman: He is mad; why hear you him? — (John x. 20). He was considered a glutton and a friend of wine: Behold a man that is a glutton and a drinker of wine. — (Luke vii. 34). He was called a sorcerer: By the prince of devils he casteth out devils. — (Matt. ix. 34). And also a heretic: Do we not say well that thou art a Samaritan? — (John viii. 48).
But during His Passion He suffered still greater insults. He was treated as a blasphemer: when He declared that He was the Son of God, Caiphas said to the other priests: Behold, now you have heard the blasphemy: what think you? But they answering, said: He is guilty of death. — (Matt. xxvi. 65, 66). As soon as Jesus was declared guilty of blasphemy, some began to spit in His face, and others to buffet Him. Then, indeed, was fulfilled the prediction of Isaias: I have given my body to the strikers, and my cheeks to them that plucked them; I have not turned away my face from them that rebuked me and spit upon me. — (Is. 1. 6). Jesus was treated too as a false prophet: Prophesy unto us, O Christ; who is he that struck Thee. — (Matt. xxvi. 68). The injury done Him by His own disciple Peter, who denied Him three times, and swore he had never known Him, added to the pain our Saviour suffered from the ignominies of that night.
Let us, O devout souls, go to our afflicted Lord, in that prison in which He is abandoned by all, and accompanied only by His enemies, who contend with each other in insulting and maltreating Him. Let us thank Him for all He suffers for us with so much patience; and let us console Him by acts of sorrow for the insults we have ourselves offered to Him; for we too have treated Him with contempt, and by our sins have denied Him, and declared that we knew Him not.
Ah, my amiable Redeemer, I would wish to die of grief at the thought of having given so much pain to Thy Heart, which has loved me so ardently. Ah, forget the great offences I have offered Thee, and look at me with that loving look which Thou didst cast on Peter after he denied Thee, and which made him bewail his sins unceasingly till death. O great Son of God, O infinite Love, Who dost suffer for the very men that hate and maltreat Thee! Thou art adored by the Angels, O infinite majesty! Thou wouldst confer too great an honour on men in permitting them to kiss Thy feet! And yet, O God, Thou didst allow Thyself on that night to be made an object of mockery to so vile a rabble! My despised Jesus, make me suffer contempt for Thy sake. How can I refuse insults, when I see that Thou, my God, hast borne so many for the love of me? Ah, my crucified Jesus, make me know Thee and love Thee.
Meditation II:
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Spiritual Reading: HOLY HUMILITY
X. PATIENCE IN BEARING CONTEMPT
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Evening Meditation: THE DESOLATE LIFE OF JESUS CHRIST
Meditation I:
The life of our loving Redeemer was full of desolation, and bereft of every comfort. It was a great ocean of bitterness, without one drop of sweetness or consolation: For great as the sea is thy destruction. — (Lam. ii. 13). This was revealed by our Lord to St. Margaret of Cortona, when He told her that in His whole life He never experienced sensible consolation.
The sadness which He felt in the Garden of Gethsemani was so great that it was sufficient to take away His life. My soul, He said, is sorrowful even unto death. — (Matt. xxvi. 38). This sadness afflicted Him not only in the Garden, but it always filled His soul with desolation, from the first moment of His Conception: for all the pains and ignominies He was to suffer until death were always present to Him.
But the extreme affliction He suffered during His whole life arose not so much from the knowledge of all the sufferings He was to endure during life, and especially at death, as from the sight of all the sins men would commit after His death. He came to abolish sin, and to save souls from hell by His death; but, after all His cruel sufferings, He saw all the sins men would commit; and the sight of each sin, being clearly before His mind while He lived here below, was to Him, as St. Bernardine of Sienna writes, a source of immense affliction. This was the sorrow which was always before His eyes, and kept Him always in desolation: My sorrow is continually before me. — (Ps. xxxvii. 18). St. Thomas teaches that the sight of the sins of men, and of the multitude of souls that would bring themselves to perdition, excited in Jesus Christ a sorrow which surpassed the sorrow of all penitents, even of those who died of pure grief. The holy Martyrs suffered great torments, they bore tortures from iron hooks, and nails, and red-hot plates: but God always sweetened their pains by interior consolations. But no Martyrdom has been more painful than that of Jesus Christ, for His pain and sadness were pure, unmitigated pain and sorrow, without the smallest comfort. “The greatness of Christ’s suffering,” says the Angelic Doctor, “is estimated from the pureness of His pain and sadness.”
Meditation II:
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Morning Meditation: “TURN, THEN, THINE EYES OF MERCY TOWARDS US”
I. MARY IS ALL EYES TO PITY AND SUCCOUR US IN OUR NECESSITIES
St. Epiphanius calls the Divine Mother “many-eyed,” indicating thereby her watchfulness in assisting us poor creatures in this valley of tears. The eyes of the Lord are on the just. — (Ps. xxxiii. 16). “But the eyes of the Lady are on just and sinners,” says Richard of St. Laurence. “For,” he adds, “the eyes of Mary are the eyes of a mother on her child to save it from falling, and if perchance it falls, to raise it up.”
Meditation I:
Jesus Christ one day allowed St. Bridget to hear Him thus addressing His Mother: “My Mother, ask Me what thou wilt!” And so is her Divine Son addressing Mary in Heaven, taking pleasure in gratifying His beloved Mother in all that she asks. But what does Mary ask? St, Bridget heard her reply: “I ask mercy for sinners.” As if she had said: “My Son, Thou hast made me the Mother of mercy, the refuge of sinners, the advocate of the miserable; and now Thou tellest me to ask what I desire; what can I ask except mercy for sinners?”
“And so, O Mary, thou art so full of mercy,” says St. Bonaventure; “so attentive in relieving the wretched, that it seems that thou hast no other desire, no other anxiety.” And as amongst the miserable, sinners are the most miserable of all, Venerable Bede declares “that Mary is always praying to her Son for them.”
“Even whilst living in this world,” says St. Jerome, “the heart of Mary was so filled with tenderness and compassion for men, that no one ever suffered so much for his own pains as Mary suffered for the pains of others.” This compassion for others in affliction she well showed at the marriage-feast of Cana, when, the wine failing, without being asked, remarks St. Bernardine of Sienna, she charged herself with the office of a tender comfortress: and moved to compassion at the sight of the embarrassment of the bride and bridegroom, she interposed with her Son, and obtained the miraculous change of water into wine.
Meditation II:
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Spiritual Reading: “TURN, THEN, THINE EYES OF MERCY TOWARDS US”
II. OUR LADY’S MERCY FILLS THE WHOLE EARTH
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Evening Meditation: AFTER THIS OUR EXILE SHOW UNTO US THE BLESSED FRUIT OF THY WOMB, JESUS!
MARY, OUR SALVATION
SHE DELIVERS HER CLIENTS FROM HELL
Meditation I:
It is impossible for a client of Mary, who is faithful in honouring and recommending himself to her, to be lost. To some this proposition may appear, at first sight, exaggerated; but any one to whom this might seem to be the case I would beg to suspend his judgment, and, first of all, read what I have to say.
When we say that it is impossible for a client of Mary to be lost, we must not be understood as speaking of those who would take advantage of this devotion that they might sin more freely. And therefore, those who disapprove of the great praises bestowed on the clemency of this most Blessed Virgin, because it causes the wicked to take advantage of it to sin with greater freedom, do so without foundation, for such presumptuous people deserve chastisement, and not mercy, for their rash confidence. It is, therefore, to be understood of those clients who, with a sincere desire to amend, are faithful in honouring and recommending themselves to the Mother of God. It is, I say, morally impossible that such as these should be lost.
St. Anselm says, “it is impossible for one who is not devout to Mary, and consequently not protected by her, to be saved; so is it impossible for one who recommends himself to her, and consequently is beloved by her, to be lost.” St. Antoninus repeats the same thing and almost in the same words: “As it is impossible for those from whom Mary turns her eyes of mercy to be saved, so also are those towards whom she turns these eyes, and for whom she prays, necessarily saved and glorified.” Consequently the clients of Mary will necessarily be saved.
Let us note particularly what these Saints say, and let those tremble who make but little account of their devotion to this Divine Mother, or from carelessness give it up. They say that the salvation of those who are not protected by Mary is impossible. Many others declare the same thing; such as Blessed Albert, who says, that “all those who are not thy servants, O Mary, will perish.” And St. Bonaventure: “He who neglects the service of the blessed Virgin will die in his sins.” Again: “He who does not invoke thee, O Lady, will never get to Heaven.” And, on the 99th Psalm the Saint even says, “not only those from whom Mary turns her face will not save their souls, but there will be no hope of their salvation.” Before him, St. Ignatius the Martyr said, “it is impossible for any sinner to be saved without the help and favour of the most Blessed Virgin; because those who are not saved by the justice of God are with infinite mercy saved by the intercession of Mary.” Some doubt as to whether this passage is truly of St. Ignatius; but, at all events, as Father Crasset remarks, it was adopted by St. John Chrysostom. And in the same sense does the Church apply to Mary the words of Proverbs: All that hate me, love death — (Prov. viii. 36), that is, all who do not love me, love eternal death. For, as Richard of St. Laurence says on the words of the same book: She is like the merchant’s ship — (Prov. xxxi. 14), “all those who are out of this ship will be lost in the sea of the world.” Even the heretical OEcolampadius looked upon little devotion to the Mother of God as a certain mark of reprobation: and therefore he said: “Far be it from me ever to turn from Mary.”
Meditation II:
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